The Chelsea Daily Drivel - Catch up!

The Chelsea Daily Drivel is a daily update of all the stories concerning our club, the rumours, the opinions and more....

So here are the Chelsea news updates on Monday 23rd August 2010 including: Looking back at the news of Sam Hutchinson's retirement, Essien's greatful to be back playing, Neymar is staying at Santos, Carlo Ancelotti talks about the "Captain of Captains" John Terry, Sergio Aguero now wants to stay at Madrid and Kalou states that teams will be afraid of Chelsea!.

First to last week's news that the player once described by Jose Mourinho as "Major Prospect", Sam Hutchinson, announced his retirement from the game aged just 21. Hutchinson has had to retire due to chronic knee injury and its devastating news for the player.

He had made his debut for the First Team back in 2007 at the age of 18 against Everton and has made four appearances. Recently Hutchinson had been the captain of our reserve squad and under Ancelotti had become one of the home grown players he had intended to bring into the squad on a regular basis.

Hutchinson had also captained the England u-19 squad and received his first call up to the u-21's but hadn't featured at that level.

There was no question Sam was of the John Terry mould and looked a real prospect at the club. His greatest moment in a Chelsea shirt was last season at home when he had come on as a sub at right back and supplied a sublime cross for Lampard to famously back heel the ball into the opposite corner.

The club have confirmed they will look after Sam and he will be heavily involved with our academy which is great news.

In light of the money being spent these days on foreign imports and the new Premier League rules regarding home grown players, there would be no question in my mind that if Sam hadn't had his problems with his knee, he would of taken the mantle from JT at the club. Such a great talent taken at such a young age. Sam we all wish you well in whatever you decide to do in the future!.

Now to Michael Essien. All of us are delighted that "The Bison" is back playing and to me its like a new signing for us, the best of the season without question. Essien himself is also delighted to be back. He said:

"I'm the kind of person who likes to be lonely. I got my head down and focused on getting fit. To be back playing now makes the hard work well worth it. There's relief there, too, of course. It was so frustrating to be back in that position, out of the team and in the treatment room, but these things happen. The knee is fine. There has been no reaction, either after training or after games. If anything, it feels stronger than before. I'm not scared to go into tackles with it. Not at all.

I suppose I knew what to expect. I'd been injured the previous year, and I'm a strong guy mentally. I've learned to be. I just got working hard to get myself fit. There are times when it is hard, when you're on the outside, but I can honestly say that winning the Premier League last season meant as much to me as it did in my first season at the club. I still managed to enjoy the occasion with everyone, feel part of it, and was on the pitch after the Wigan game in May celebrating with everyone. The emotion was just the same as winning it that first year under José, when I'd played more of a part in the season. I have a medal and it means as much to me. Sure, you wish you could be out on the pitch, or going up to pick up the FA Cup, but you have to be realistic: everything was about keeping focused, getting over the injury and getting fit again.

People are saying I'm one of the new signings this year, and I am looking forward to playing more consistently after missing so much of the last two seasons, This can be a big season. I don't think I've still got things to show Carlo Ancelotti. He has seen me play a lot, even before he was our manager, and he knows what I can do. It's not as if I have anything to prove to him. He knows I will go out there and work really hard for the team every week.

It is an exciting time. Some players have left but Ramires has come in, a player I haven't seen much of but getting into the Brazilian team is not easy, so he must be good. I hope I can work well with him. It will be up to the manager where we all play. I've always enjoyed getting forward, pushing up-field to help us in our attacks, but I think you can still do that from a central position too. You don't have to sit deep all the time. But, wherever I play, it is joyful being in a team that's playing like this at the moment. We're scoring goals and there's freedom in our play.

The manager asks us to get forward more often and create problems for opponents. People said he was a defensive coach at Milan, but maybe he has a different kind of player here than he had in Italy. You can see how he wants us to play every week. Teams struggle when they come to Stamford Bridge and, if we score one or two, everything seems to open up for us. We need to work hard to get into that position in the first place, but you can see what happens once we are ahead."

(Source: The Guardian)

Now to the most drawn out saga over the Summer and that's to the speculation that had surrounded Neymar. There is no denying that Carlo was interested in the player, the club backed him with a bid that had been turned down and then we heard that the likes of Pele and his new Brazil National Team Manager Mano Menezes had told Neymar to stay where he was as it was too early to move to Europe.

It seems as though they got their way as Neymar has signed a new five year deal at Santos. It is believed however that Chelsea had offered £23m for the player which remained short of the £29m release clause that had already been inserted into his contract so was not enough. This new deal signed is believed to have a new release clause inserted to it stating that a bid of £37m will be required.

The player spoke of his new deal and said:

"The final decision always rests with the player, My father always will want what is best for me. I talked to him and decided to stay. Money alone does not bring happiness. I'm happy here and I want to continue being so. It was a complicated decision, very difficult. But God gave us the wisdom and power to make the best decision. Now it's time to only think about Santos and winning more titles."

(Source: The Telegraph)

So should Chelsea have offered the £29m at the time for Neymar? Or was it too much money for a player who obviously has talent but is of a young age and would struggle to make an impact for a while in the Premier League?.

Now to Carlo Ancelotti and he has taken the time to speak about John Terry in his new Autobiography and has claimed he is the Captain of Captains. He said:

" John Terry is the captain of all team captains, he was born with the captain's armband on his arm. Even without the band, it's as if he wears it anyway, and that's how it ought to be. He's different from all the others, Chelsea is his home, it always has been, ever since the youth squad.

One word from him, and the locker room holds its breath. He's the first one to sit down at meals, the first one to stand up. Being part of this club is his mission, that's how he was made. He pays close attention to the performances of the youth team, he keeps up, he knows all the scores, he misses nothing (although he often loses at ping-pong in the dining room - and when that happens, watch out).

"He works twice as hard as everyone else, he has the sense of responsibility of someone who runs a company, a people, a philosophy that above all has to win. There is no room for second place; there can only be room for us,".

You have to say its not like we all never knew this already of JT. However, its nice to hear the Manager say and think the same. JT has had that from every single Manager he has played for or picked him for their side. We know he lost the Captain's armband for England but he will still be the same out there on the pitch. To me though and all the other Chelsea fans, there is only one England captain!

Now to Sergio Aguero, the long time linked Atletico Madrid forward who has in recent times, spoken of what it would be like to play for Chelsea, as now reaffirmed his intentions to stay at Atletico Madrid. He said:

'I have told the club that I want to stay here, so they will sort out with my agent whether to renew my contract or not, I don't get involved with that. But, as I have always said, I'm happy and when the club needs to sell me for the money, they will do. But right now they don't want to and I'm here.'

(Source: Dailymail)

Finally to Saloman Kalou. He has spoken after our latest 6-0 win at the weekend as Carlo Ancelotti described our football at the start of this season as "playstation" football. Kalou belives that our two games so far have put the frighteners up the rest of the league. He has said:

"I hope that after these two games the teams we play will be afraid of Chelsea. We have started the season how we finished the last one. It is going to be very tough but right now we are enjoying it and hopefully we continue to play on that level because when you are the defending champions you have to scare the other teams.

Even though he didn't score, Didier had a great game, He was there for his team-mates and he knows how to balance his game. He knows when he can score and he knows how to pass the ball and I was glad to be there to finish it."

Do you agree with Kalou? I think we have to remember to keep our feet on the ground and focused on the next game, one game at a time but with the others dropping points the signs are already good for Chelsea!.

More on tomorrow Drivel!
KTBFFH!