Carlo: I agreed to boss Chelsea 2 months ago
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Special agent Shevchenko the middle man in Chelsea's bid to lure Milan coach Ancelotti
Italian connection: Shevchenko (centre) with Abramovich (right) and AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani during the Ukraine striker's first stint at the San Siro.
Andriy Shevchenko is said to have delivered a parting gift to Chelsea by mediating in the move of coach Carlo Ancelotti from AC Milan to Stamford Bridge.
The Italian coach is on the brink of being confirmed as Guus Hiddink's replacement after Shevchenko reportedly acted as translator in conversations between Ancelotti and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The Ukraine striker has spent the season warming the San Siro bench after being loaned out by Chelsea at the start of the season.
He has been as unsuccessful in Italy as he was in the Barclays Premier League and Sportsmail revealed earlier this month that Chelsea will pay up the final year of his contract and allow him to become a free agent this summer.
Most wanted: Chelsea intend to appoint Carlo Ancelotti
But the 32-year-old has maintained loyalty to his English paymasters by aiding in the capture of Ancelotti, according to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
Abramovich is said to have personally called Ancelotti, using Shevchenko to translate from Russian to Italian. The Stamford Bridge money man reportedly laid out the details of a three-year contract worth a basic salary of £85,000 per week - plus bonuses.
Ancelotti today said he would meet Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani on Monday to discuss his future after the crucial final-day match at Fiorentina.
The Rossoneri need to draw to ensure they qualify directly for the Champions League group stages next season, but Ancelotti said the result would make no difference to the decision over his future.
His bosses are already believed to have lined up sporting director Leonardo as his replacement, though Marco van Basten is another contender following a souring relationship with Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.
Ancelotti said: 'My future will be much clearer for everyone after the meeting I will have with the Milan directors at the end of the season.
'The game against Fiorentina will not influence my choices or those of the club. It has zero impact on my future and only matters to get direct access to next season's Champions League.
'I don't have any meeting planned shortly with Abramovich. I have been learning English for two years and if the Milan directors ask me to stay, I will.'
Milan had hoped to make an announcement on the future identity of their coach this week but defeat in their last home game at Roma meant their Champions League route was not confirmed, further disappointing directors.
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Ancelotti: I'll stay if Milan ask
Carlo Ancelotti: Will he stay or will he go?..Chelsea target Carlo Ancelotti insists he will remain the manager of AC Milan if the club ask him to stay at the San Siro. Speculation has been rife that Ancelotti will leave for Stamford Bridge in the summer, and he is set to sit down on Monday with Milan chiefs to discuss his future..
Despite reports in Italy that the 52-year-old has already agreed a three-year contract with Chelsea and mutterings in the English press that he will receive a £50m war chest, Ancelotti claims he is happy to remain in Milan as long as the club want him.
The Italian also added that he has no plans to meet with Chelsea and club owner Roman Abramovich.
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SECRET MEETINGS ... Carlo Ancelotti
CARLO ANCELOTTI has blown the lid on his secret meetings with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The AC Milan chief revealed he held TWO clandestine meetings with Abramovich last year. He admits he agreed to become Blues boss two months ago even though he has yet to sign a contract and hints he may STILL yet stay in Italy.
He also reveals how Abramovich says his side have 'no personality' and dreams of becoming like Manchester United, Liverpool or Milan.
The revelations will be hugely embarrassing for Russian billionaire Ambramovich, who fiercely guards his privacy. In his book Preferisco La Coppa, Ancelotti said: "The manager of Milan is on a secret mission. I am on my own like 007. Sat behind a driver with the face of a killer.
"I'm already in Paris going to Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea - who's looking for a new manager. "We've already seen each other once, a couple of weeks ago. In Switzerland, in a big hotel in Geneva. I don't remember the name.
"Everything was organised by Charlie Stillitano, a friend from the US who works in football. He knows Peter Kenyon, the executive hand of Abramovich at Chelsea, who has expressed the wish to meet me.
"I was on holiday relaxing after the bitterness of failing to qualify for the Champions League with Milan. "Abramovich came after me, it's a good sign but how many bodyguards!
"They are the ones who accompanied me to the Big Chief and to Kenyon. Their team was completed by a lawyer and an interpreter.
"We sat down and greeted each other cordially and started to talk. Always about football and only football. Abramovich wanted to know everything about me, my way of working, my philosophy. He was and is still looking for a team with a precise identity: 'Like Manchester United, Liverpool, Milan, certainly not like my Chelsea.'
"While he was talking, my curiosity perked up. He wasn't the monster that papers painted him to be. "The first thing I noticed was his timidity. The second his great knowledge of football. The third his hunger, his bulimia: 'Dear Ancelotti, I want to win everything. Everything.'
"An hour flew by during which we never talked about money." Ancelotti also recalls how he bumped into Roma boss Luciano Spalletti before the Paris meeting, even though he does not mention him by name. Ancelotti said: "So here we are. The George V in Paris. Me and Abramovich, Act Two.
"Yesterday, a few minutes away from here, Massimo Moratti met Jose Mourinho. I didn't want to have the same end. The road is free, nobody suspicious, I can enter.
"I bump into a dear colleague and friend. I laugh. 'What are you doing here?' 'No, what are you doing?' I laugh again. "I feel like I'm in a supermarket. Everyone here to talk to this chairman, and maybe we're on his shopping list.
"I go to meet him one floor up. He's waiting in a conference room and has the same people he had in Geneva around the table. I immediately make one thing clear. 'I have a contract with Milan. An eventual agreement with Chelsea can only happen if Milan is also in agreement.'
"Again we only talked football. How would I make Chelsea play in case they got me as a manager. "President, your team is very physical, you have to put more quality in the middle of the pitch. I gave him two names, Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso.
"He thought of a third name, that of Andriy Shevchenko, who was close to his heart. 'I can't understand why he's not playing, because since we brought him to England he's not the real Sheva.'
"President, I can't know the reason. We talk some more. I can easily chat with Abramovich. He doesn't make me feel uncomfortable, not even when he says with a low voice: 'We've just lost the Champions League final, and the league, I can't be satisfied.
'Chelsea don't have a personality. I have the ambition of winning every competition in which my team takes part, a team that at the moment I don't recognise.'
"He thinks so much about the results and the beautiful game. Another 40 minutes fly by. 'Thanks Ancelotti, we'll meet again.' No financial offer."
Ancelotti admits he has been taking English lessons for months to prepare himself for taking charge at Stamford Bridge. But when asked whether he would be in Milan or London next season, he just smiled and said: "It depends."
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Ancelotti's Chelsea suicide note: Carlo lets fly but revelations may have doomed move to the Bridge
Character: AC Milan's coach Carlo Ancelotti in his opening chapter, entitled 'Called up by Abramovich - he writes of meetings with Chelsea last year. More than once he compares himself to Super agent 007 James Bond.
Carlo Ancelotti has sensationally revealed the details of his secret meetings with Roman Abramovich, providing a rare insight into the clandestine world of Chelsea's Russian owner.
The Italian has also said he could be confirmed as the new manager at Stamford Bridge as early as next week, but only if in a meeting with his AC Milan employers he is told that his services are no longer required.
Ancelotti was here in Rome yesterday to launch his new autobiography and it was the stunning revelations in the first and final chapters, both about Chelsea, that attracted much of the attention.
Abramovich might consider much of it extremely inappropriate, not to mention poorly-timed, given one particular passage that talks of him describing Chelsea as a team without 'personality'. Not ideal when Guus Hiddink is trying to prepare the players for Saturday's FA Cup final.
He writes of two meetings with Chelsea. One in Geneva and one in Paris. More than once he compares himself to James Bond. No, really, he does
It is an extraordinary book. So florid in its delivery. As fascinating insight into the 49-year-old Italian as it is Abramovich. The impression we have of him in England is of a dour, slightly sour-faced Italian. As the book and yesterday's press conference in the Via di Ripetta demonstrated, nothing could be further from the truth.
The man has a vibrant, at times almost childlike imagination, and a wonderful sense of humour. At one point yesterday he pulled on his glasses and read a passage about a practical joke that was played on Mathieu Flamini. Apparently the former Arsenal midfielder was tricked into declaring a desire to give oral sex to all his new Milan colleagues.
He does make some incredible disclosures. From his dislike of Jose Mourinho to his desire to sign Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso for Chelsea. From the two years he has spent learning English - on yesterday's evidence he is not the best student - to the dozens of DVDs he has watched that has recently left him feeling that, 'on paper', he is 'already the coach of the blues'.
Whether the book makes Abramovich withdraw his offer remains to be seen. Whether Ancelotti actually wants to move to London is also now a little difficult to ascertain when the book could be seen as career suicide.
He reflects on all the job offers he has received over the years, declaring yesterday that for as long as Milan want him he will never leave the club he regards as 'family'. That said, he also admitted yesterday that he has lied to the press when he has considered it necessary. Was he telling the truth about not having met Chelsea since last summer. 'That depends,' he replied with a wry smile.
In his defence, the book has been written only to raise money for Stefano Borgonovo, Ancelotti's former Milan team-mate and someone now fighting the killer disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
'Me and Abramovich, Act Two. Nobody should know anything, we're all agreed. I'm wearing sunglasses. I look around and with the typical expression of a secret agent'
But it will nevertheless be interesting to see how Chelsea react when they review some of the extracts below. Even if his ghost writer, Alessandro Alciato, does admit to making it sound 'spectacular'. 'But Carlo is happy with the tone,' he said yesterday.
In the opening chapter, entitled 'Called up by Abramovich - the beginnings', he writes of two meetings with Chelsea last year. One in Geneva and one in Paris. More than once he compares himself to James Bond. No, really, he does.
He writes: 'The taxi driver (in Paris) is studying my facial expressions in his rear-view mirror. He's looking for answers but I can't give him any. At least for the moment. I am somebody who has left in a clandestine manner looking for love, or at least it seems that way. A strange sensation, it's not something familiar to me.
'The manager of Milan is on a secret mission. Me, like 007 on my own, sat behind a driver with the face of a killer. More than a taxi this is like a time machine, from Milanello to Stamford Bridge, from yesterday to tomorrow, from one devil to another. And there I am, in Paris, going to Roman Abramovich, the Russian who has come from nowhere but above all - as far as I'm concerned - the rich owner of Chelsea. Who's looking for a new manager.
'Nobody knows this but we've already seen each other once, a couple of weeks ago. In Switzlerand, in a big hotel in Geneva, just outside the city centre. I would tell you the name but I swear I don't remember it. It must be my age.
'I was on holiday on the lake, relaxing by the sweet water after the bitterness of failing to qualify for the Champions League with Milan. Abramovich came after me, it's a good thing but how many bodyguards! They are the ones who accompanied me to the Big Chief and to Peter Kenyon. Their team was completed by a lawyer and an interpreter.
'We sat down and greeted each other cordially, and then we started to talk. Always about football and only about football.
We are in May 2008. Abramovich wanted to know everything about me, my way of working, my philosophy. He was and is still looking for a team with a precise identity: "Like Manchester United, Liverpool, Milan, certainly not like my Chelsea."
'Abramovich says "Chelsea don't have a personality. I have the ambition of winning every competition in which my team takes part, a team that at the moment I don't recognise"'
'While he was talking, my curiosity perked up. He wasn't the monster that papers painted him to be. The first thing I noticed was his timidity. The second his great knowledge of football. The third his hunger, his bulimia: "Dear Ancelotti, I want to win everything. Everything." I remembered of another president. He made a great impression on me. An hour flew by during which we never talked about money. "Goodbye, see you soon."
'So here we are, back in Paris. The George V, great hotel two steps from the Champs Elysees, a spectacular terrace with a view over Paris, and in this case over his London too.
'Me and Abramovich, Act Two. Nobody should know anything, we're all agreed. I'm wearing sunglasses. I look around and with the typical expression of a secret agent. I make sure there are no photographers at the hotel entrance. Yesterday, a few minutes away from here, Massimo Moratti of Inter Milan met Jose Mourinho.
'I didn't want to have the same end. Road is free, nobody suspicious, I can enter. But no, f**k. I don't believe it. Just around the corner I see Federico Pastorello, an Italian agent that I know very well. I hide. I go to the far end and bump into a very dear colleague and friend. Another Italian manager who works in a city that occupies. (Roma coach Luciano Spalletti, who clearly has also met with Chelsea that day).
'I laugh. "What are you doing here?" "No, what are you doing?". I laugh again. This improvised refuge is starting to make sense, I feel like I am in a supermarket. Everyone here to talk to this chairman, and maybe we're his shopping list. A bench for two, for three, for a hundred, who knows how many?
'I go to meet him one floor up. He's waiting in a conference room and has the same people he had in Geneva sat around the table. I immediately make one thing clear.
"I have a contract with Milan, I'm very well there, and an eventual agreement with Chelsea can only happen if Milan is also in agreement".
'Again we only talked about football. How would I make Chelsea play in case they got me as a manager?
'"President, your team is very physical, you have to put more quality in the middle of the pitch," I tell him. I gave him two names, Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso. Players that would have made him very happy.
'We looked up at the TV and there was His Mourinhity (Jose Mourinho), comparing himself to Jesus. I thought "forgive him his sins, he knows not what he is talking about'
'He thought of a third name, that of Andriy Shevchenko, who was close to his heart and it was easy to see.
"I can't understand why he's not playing., because since we brought him to England he's not the real Sheva, he's in difficulties."
'"President, I can't know the reason myself." We talk and talk and talk some more.
'I find I can easily chat with Abramovich. He doesn't make me feel uncomfortable, not even when he says with a low voice: "We've just lost the Champions League final, and the League, I can't certainly be satisfied. Chelsea don't have a personality. I have the ambition of winning every competition in which my team takes part, a team that at the moment I don't recognise."
'He thinks so much about the results and the beautiful game. Another forty minutes fly by. "Thanks Ancelotti, we'll meet again." No financial offer. OK everything clear, for now there's no offer.
'A couple of hours later the phone rings. "Hello this is (Adriano) Galliani (Milan vice-president). Beautiful Paris isn't it?" Pause. "How did your elopement go?" He already knew everything. Like Moratti and Mourinho the day before.
'I said: "I came to talk to Abramovich. When the president of a club of that important calls you, it's fair to at least go and meet him."
"Nevertheless, you're not leaving."
City rivals: Milan coach makes no secret of his dislike of Inter boss Jose Mourinho.
"But I don't want to leave."
'It was my curiosity to meet a man so important in our world, that yes, but not the fierce desire to leave Milan. At that moment we were very well together.'
At the end of the book he reflects on even more recent events. 'It was April 1 2009. Up to 7pm that night I was thinking mainly in English. After lunch that day I gave an interview with Sky Italia. I remember every word.
'"I have a contract to 2010, so I am staying. You can say I am staying."
'"How many lies have you told," he asked.
'"A few, just to defend myself."
'"And if I see you again in a few months, will I discover those lies?" '"In a couple of months, yes."
'It was a safe way of saying I would've left. Surely, I was starting to put my hands forward to prepare the ground. I had been taking English lessons for a long time and not by chance. I had three per week. I was a model student.
'That afternoon I was answering questions with a stern face because I knew that evening I was going to see Galliani in Via Turati (Milan offices). It was the same situation as last year. I had an indecent offer from Chelsea and I started to feel shivers. That was a surprise.
When we met I said: "Listen, Galliani, I need to tell you something. I would go to coach Chelsea."
'He said: "No question; you can't talk about that.' It was the same answer as when I had been going to go to Real Madrid."
"So you want to keep me?"
'He said: "For sure."
'I said: "I will need a definitive decision at the end of the season, after May 31." 'We looked up at the television and there was His Mourinhity (Jose Mourinho), comparing himself to Jesus. I thought "forgive him his sins, he knows not what he is talking about".
'I was thinking of Chelsea. I confess that at certain points in 2008-09 I watched my DVDs of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. I was already the coach of the blues on paper. I thought, there are worse things in life than me and Abramovich together. The worst for him had already been and gone. He had already worked with His Specialty, Mourinho.'
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this man is like a guniang.
want to join chelsea, just join, why let other people decide your fate?
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i want guus
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hiddink is better
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why not. sign all the AC milan squad?
it seem like.
chelsea love ppl from Ac Milan.
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i hope he flop at chelsea
