Roman: The wallet's closed
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ROMAN ABRAMOVICH will no longer throw his billions at Chelsea to make them successful. The Russian owner has told the club they must operate without his money and run as a proper business. Abramovich will remain as sole owner but has told club directors he is not interested in remaining as a key decision maker. He made his decision known to directors Peter Kenyon, Eugene Tenenbaum and chairman Bruce Buck at a board meeting last Monday.
The summit was called to decide strategy for next season but boss Jose Mourinho was not invited to attend. AbramovichÂ’s move to pull the plug on his unlimited funds could now see Frank Lampard and skipper John Terry leave the club. The two England stars have failed to agree new deals with the Blues and Abramovich has laid down the law that there has to be a wage cap. Neither player is willing to accept a deal less than they think they are worth and could now sit out their current deals, which have two years left.
Lampard is currently paid £118,000 per week and could stay another season at Chelsea before they would be forced to sell him for a nominal sum with just a year left on his contract. Chelsea’s only other option would be to try and cash in on him now — though so far no club has made a firm offer.
From now on, Chelsea will be limited the same as every other club and will have to generate its own budget. The Russian owner has fallen out of love with the club and is intending to spend more time abroad and with his new girlfriend Daria Zhukova.
Daria Zhukova
It is unlikely he will attend as many games as he has in the past and wants only to be informed of important issues regarding Chelsea when it is thought necessary. The club will sign three new players this season — but hardly a penny will be spent on transfer fees. Steve Sidwell has signed on a free from Reading and Claudio Pizarro will do likewise from Bayern Munich. Brazil’s PSV Eindhoven defender Alex is already owned by Chelsea and will arrive for a fee of one dollar in July.
It is a far cry from the first days of Abramovich’s reign as the club’s owner when he spent £74m on seven players in his first two months. Since then, more than £250m has been spent on transfers in total and the waste of money is partly to blame for Abramovich’s disinterest.
For instance, Hernan Crespo cost £18m from Inter four years ago but has spent only two years playing for Chelsea. Half of his £90k-per-week wage is still paid by Chelsea while he has won two titles in Italy on loan at AC Milan and now Inter. Players like Adrian Mutu and Asier Del Horno were signed for £12m and then sold on at a fraction of their original price. And that is without even mentioning the likes of Juan Veron, Mateja Kezman, Jiri Jarosik or Khalid Boulahrouz. -
with the kind of squad chelsea have they should be able to continue to challenge for titles.
it is time chelsea unload players whom are ineffective.
and how much do they want for salary?
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i knew this would happen one day. lets see how chelsea will respond
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their core squad is still teeming with talent. And they don't need to make any big time purchase.
i think Abramovich is peeling the pinch after his recent divorce.
Poor morinho, he will moan more in the coming season. -
The only world-class player they can afford now is agu casmir...
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he should have told that to sheva and ballack last season.
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chelsea should sell sheva and ballack, then john terry and lampard will be the highest paid then no problem.
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It's time.
Sheva's and Ballack's pay are ridiculous when their contribution is less than half of Drogba's and Lamps'.
Cheers.
CK -
look out, one big fat rat is going to jump ship...
sorry, you can't jump back to your old ship, MUFC has sailed on.. -
FRANK LAMPARD is reluctantly poised to quit Chelsea after contract talks between him and the club sensationally collapsed. Heartbroken Lamps wanted to see out his career at Stamford Bridge. But he is now likely to complete a move to either Barcelona, Real Madrid or Juventus — unless Chelsea make a dramatic and unexpected last-ditch attempt to keep him.
But one Stamford Bridge insider warned: "That is highly unlikely. This looks like the end of the road for Frank and Chelsea." Lampard could even start to buy himself out of his existing deal under a new FIFA ruling — as he has served more than three years of the contract — and make himself available for a knockdown £9million.
The news comes after an emergency board meeting failed to agree a new offer for the England midfielder. Lampard had gone public on his desire to stay at Chelsea but his hopes of a five-year deal look shattered. -
hor say liaoz...i think Real madrid will beckon
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one thing i dun understand, if what they're asking is like 10-20k more then what chelsea are currently offering, why dun chelsea offload players like hilario or manus hedman if they're around.
can use their wages to balance up the difference ma. -
great...it's time like this where fair weathered and die hard chelsea fans are separated
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oh well now we will see who are the die hard fans
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bye bye lampa... money talks in the end i guezz..
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Lampard and Terry should just take what is being offer to them and be happy with it... It is not as tho as it is very little... Maybe even more than what Eto gets at Barce...
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This is kind of expected. Roman is sick of everything, maybe because of all the money he spent, none of the managers he employed managed to bring in the Champions League Cup
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ho ho ho
finally the wallet is close -
i hope lampard leaves.
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well, if he goes to spain, I bet his skills will improve..Originally posted by dragg:i hope lampard leaves.
but why would chelsea lose their top midfielder?? I think it is all a farce.
not enough, just fire Peter Ratyon, that should be enough to top up Lampard's contract.