The Chelsea Daily Drivel

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 Tuesday 31st August 2010 including: Malouda wants to keep hold of the title like the rest of us, Demichelis decides to stay at Bayern Munich and fight for his place in the squad, Ivanovic hit by injury & out for up to six weeks!, John Terry reveals he has been struggling with his hamstring since the World Cup and needs complete rest for 10 days!, JT also speaks of Mikel's form so far and Franco Di Santo has left the club after a summer of speculation.

First to Flo Malouda who has been in impressive form in the three games we have played so far scoring in each of them. He has been speaking of his form in relation to his time at Chelsea recently and he said:

"I played a lot of games before Guus Hiddink arrived and I was building something, Now I get the result of the hard work I did from the first day I signed for Chelsea. Maybe now people get to know me and they notice more of what I do.

I am building my confidence, trying to show game after game my quality but you have to stay calm and we shall see at the end of the season. The most important for me was to win the Premier League last year and now that I am champion, I want to stay a champion."

Let's hope he keeps performing on the pitch the way he has been as he has to be one of our most consistant performers in recent times including the end of last season!.

Now to a player we had been linked with, but to be honest couldn't see any real substance to the story and that's Bayern Munich's Argentinian Defender, Martin Demichelis. If you are a regular reader of my blog you would know he had been mentioned as a player Carlo Ancelotti admired / had an eye on. It's seems however, with the deadline day looming today, that he has had a chat with Louis van Gaal after he was prepared to let him go and has decided to stay. Demichelis said:

‘I will be very honoured to stay at Bayern and fight. The coach gave me his reasoning and he said I had a hard decision to make, but I’ve accepted it already and there was mutual agreement.’

So that's the end of that. I have to say he would have had a job on to oust JT and Alex anyway!

Now to a current Chelsea defender who is injured and that's Branislav Ivanovic. Ivanovic has hurt his back in training and missed our win over Stoke at the weekend and has revealed he will be out for between two to six weeks!. He said:

"I came to Belgrade to see my team-mates, but the back injury is such that I cannot train or play."

Its a blow to Carlo Ancelotti to lose Ivanovic but also a chance for Paulo Ferreira to have a run in the side while Jose Bosingwa regains fitness after his long absence through injury. Let's hope Branna's injury is only two weeks and not the six weeks that it could possibly be!.

Now to yet another injury and this time its "Captain Fantastic!" John Terry!. JT pulled out of the coming England games after the Stoke game and has revealed he needs complete rest to recover from a hamstring injury that he sustained during the World Cup. He said:

"I have had a bit of a problem since the World Cup and I was hoping after the World Cup that I would have two weeks off and it would completely go away, But that wasn't the case and, coming back working hard, it came back on. I have not made it public but I have been struggling with it and maybe I just need 10 days' rest to fully get over it because it could impact on my season."

Like with Branna, let's hope JT has the rest he needs and is able to come back recovered and with no long term problems!.

Sticking with JT and he has also spoken of John Mikel Obi's good start to this season after missing the end of last season and the World Cup through injury. Mikel has been great so far and on Saturday was one of our stand out performers. JT said of him:

"John Mikel Obi had a really good pre-season and looks slimmer. He has done a bit of weights and really looks fit. We have missed Michael Essien the last couple of years and there is competition now. I think John feels that with Ramires coming in and Michael coming back, and he feels he needs to step it up. He had a great season last year and the season before that but again he has kicked on which is important for the young players to do."

Finally today on "Deadline Day" we have had confirmation that Franco Di Santo has signed for Wigan for an undisclosed fee. Chelseafc.com confirmed the transfer this evening and the statement read:

"Franco Di Santo has made a permanent move to Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee. He has signed a three-year contract. The 21-year-old striker joined Chelsea in January 2008 after signing from Chilean side Audux Italiano La Florida.

He began life well in the reserves, netting seven goals in eight games, and helped turn an 11-game winless streak into six games undefeated. One of the defining moments of that reserve season was two penalties and an excellent volley that secured a hat-trick against Tottenham. He also scored an important equaliser against Arsenal.

Di Santo then travelled with the first team on the pre-season tour to China two years ago. He went on to make his first-team debut the season that followed during a 1-1 draw with Tottenham and made eight appearances in the Premier League, as well as featuring in the FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League, but he didn't find the net.

He also figured in last summer's tour of America under Carlo Ancelotti and scored against Mexican side Club America. The young Argentinean then went out on loan to Blackburn Rovers for a season. There he made 24 appearances, with 16 starts, and continuing his strikes in local derbies, scored his one Rovers goal against Burnley, helping his side to a 3-2 victory.
He returned to Chelsea to play a part in this summer's pre-season but moves on without playing another competitive game. In total he made 16 appearances as a substitute for our first team without scoring.

Chelsea Football Club would like to thank Franco for the part he played at the club and wishes him well with his new challenge"

So is that another player who could make a difference once he gets used to Premier League football out the door at Chelsea or someone who would never quite make it in our game? Only time will tell.

KTBFFH!