Sheva to Chel$ski

If you couldn't make it out from the title of the post, I ain't a huge fan of the Chel$hits. Well, I was during the Zola era, but I don't approve of the blatant conversion of the entire sport into an industry by Roman 'Moneybags' Abrahamovich. I believe that of the money pumped into a team, most should be used to delvelop football at the grassroots level, and build up great youth teams. A little bit should of course be spent on established stars to bring experience and class to a team, but not the exhorbitant amounts spent by this man to create a team of superstars that would ruin the game for every other team in the world. I don't like Chel$ki, so I must warn you that this may turn into a rant that has little to do with Sheva. I will try and avoid it, but it will be hard to avoid ranting against the Blues.
Basically, Chel$ki has signed Sheva for 30.8 million pounds (around 56 million dollars). 30 MILLION!!! What sort of team can compete with that sort of money being splashed out as a whim? This team has already bought Ballack this season, and Mourinho has now hinted that he is targetting Roberto Carlos! This is a team that sent Hernan Crespo on loan just because the manager had an idea that he may not be right for such a 'great' team. The way this is going, Chelsea will wind up with every bigname player in the world, and will have to start a whole new league with 20 teams- Chelsea All-Stars #1, Chelsea All-Stars #2, and so on, ad nauseam. This is going to disgrace the great sport of... (RANT ALERT! RANT ALERT!)

Okay, okay, I will try and get back to the topic. Which was Sheva's transfer. AC Milan President Adriano Galliani, when he realised it was going to be impossible to prevent Chel$hits from buying Shevchenko, tried to focus his energies on bringing in Chelsea's French defender William Gallas as part of the deal, in order to tighten up a leaky defence. This seemed quite likely as Gallas has often expressed unhappiness at Stamford Bridge. But, of course, neither AC Milan nor Gallas could contend with the force of an Abrahamovich tornado that destroys everything that stands in its way. Gallas stays in London.

Shevchenko says that money had no part to play in his choice. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, as I have long been a fan of his. He claims it was the will of his American model wife Kristen Pazik, who wanted their son Jordan to grow up in an environment where everybody spoke English. I must say, between this woman and George Bush, I ain't exactly becoming a huge fan of Americans.

Milan is one of my favourite teams, second only to Manchester United. Inspite of this move, I continue to appreciate the great periodin Milan's history with Sheva in attack. He is second on the Rossoneri's all time goalscoring charts, behind Swedish legend Nordahl. On behalf of all the Rossoneri faithful, I would like to say to Sheva, "We will miss you." Goodbye.

In other news, Francesco Totti returned from injury to play for Italy against Switzerland, a 1-1 draw that saw the most formidable Italian team in a decade come up against an impressive Swiss team that is fast emerging as a genuine powerhouse in world football. Elsewhere, injuries abound, as Gary Neville fights to regain his fitness after coming off with an injury against Hungary, Mirko Vucinic is out of the Serbia and Montenegro squad (coach Ilja Petkovic called up his son as a replacement), and Czech veteran Vladimir Smicer seems to be out of the World Cup. Also, Spanish football authorities have expressed bitterness towards Chelsea for witholding information about an injury to Chelsea's Spanish leftback Asier del Horno, that is almost certain to keep him out of the World Cup. Chel$ki callously ignored the defender's problems and continued to play him, having sent Wayne Bridge on loan to Fulham, at the fag end of the season. It makes one sick how they think they can get away with everything, those Chel$hits, power hungry, trophy mad, greedy,... (RANT ALERT! RANT ALERT!)

All right, fine, maybe I should end this discussion right now, adn leave the rest of the Chel$ki- bashing for future posts.