The Chelsea Daily Drivel - Thursday 24th June 2010

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

So here is the latest from around the web on Thursday 24th June 2010 including:
more on David Silva just as Man City thought it was done and dusted!, Florent Malouda speaks about the French World Cup disaster!, Deco's Portugal hope, Ivanovic and Serbia are out!, JT, Lampard, and the Coles fight on with England and Chelsea's 10m bid for a new defender.

Firstly again on the Daily Drivel, more on David Silva. Now many of you who read the Drivel will know that he express an interest in joining Chelsea. Then in the last couple of days it was reported that a fee had been agreed between Manchester City and Valencia and City had been given permission to speak to the player by Valencia.

However, now its being reported all over the press today that Chelsea are not out of the running for Silva just yet!. Silva's agent Julio Llorente has said today:

`We won't know where he is going this week because we're weighing up offers from three clubs and one of them is Chelsea. If Silva doesn't want to go (to City), the transfer isn't possible.'

It seems to me anyway that if he has expressed an interest in joining Chelsea and has already spoken so favourably about the Blues then I would say City's ambition to sign him should be dead in the water and we will see him at the Bridge next season.

Florent Malouda back from the World Cup has spoken of what has happened to the French on and off the pitch. He said:

"The way people see France right now is a disaster and we, as players, are the first responsible for that, We have failed from the sport's point of view and outside the sport in the image we've shown. I don't know if it's going to be possible but we have to work hard to restore the image of the French national team in the world. It was a complete disaster. We didn't know it would affect so many people."

I have to question why the French team didn't realise that it would affect so many people when they are representing their country on the World Stage. To go on strike is ridiculous no matter what happened to Anelka. The problem is, Domenech is out of the job anyway after the competition. So why not swallow their pride and just play for the shirt if and when selected?. I for one will be waiting to hear the outcome of the meeting between Thierry Henry and the French President about all this. Could you ever imagine something like that happening with England?

Now the focus of the drivel turns to Deco. He also hasn't had it all his own way in South Africa. The first game he was played out of position and had a whinge about it, then he missed the second game through injury as Portgual thumped North Korea 7-0!. Now he is hoping to be fit to face the country he was born, Brazil. He said:

"It's so-so. I'll try to be better for the game but we'll see. I'm still having treatment and I hope to be available, I have nothing to prove against Brazil, I just want to play and help my team. What is important now is qualifying for the next phase. We want to play well against them, we had a good game against North Korea, controlled the game and scored seven goals. We're enjoying it now, the win was important. Brazil is a different game, we know they are one of the favourites to win the World Cup and we'll try to do our best in the game.”

Now to the unfortunate news that Branislav Ivanovic and the Serbia team are out of the World Cup. Along with Anelka and Malouda, Ivanovic will have time to rest and recouperate for the new season. Serbia had to win against Australia last night as Ghana faced Germany. A win would of seen Serbia through, however, the lost 2-1 after Mark Schwarzer made a fantastic save to deny Ivanovic from close range.

Let's get him rested and ready to kick on next season!.

Now to England. In a must-win, do or die game against Slovenia yesterday all four current Chelsea players were involved. JT, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard played the full 90 minutes and Joe Cole came on for about 20 minutes or so as England sneaked a 1-0 win to qualify second in the group and prepare now for a last 16 knockout game against Germany.

If you haven't seen the papers or the media then you need to look here and here. John Terry was immense!.

There have been numerous posts and discussions on here and everywhere else about his press conference leading up to the game and I have to say I did wonder how it would affect his performance. Should never of worried really as he really was a rock at the back next to Matty Upson. So much so the papers have focused today on what JT does best and not the crap off the pitch.

The Guardians Headline:

"World Cup 2010: John Terry back at the heart of England's hopes. John Terry won back his leadership spurs if not the captaincy with an imperious display against Slovenia"

Ashley Cole did ok and got forward alot more in the game but still not as effective as he has been for Chelsea. Frank Lampard the same and Joe Cole came on and was asked to play behind the striker and didn't really have the time or space to influence the game. Let's hope these guys can play better against Germany.

Now to the news that broke yesterday. Chelsea are reported to have offered in the region of 10m for Benfica centre defender David Luiz. Benfica have a stupid release clause of approx 40m which will never be met by Chelsea if they have only offered 10m. To be honest I don't really know alot about him, but if Carlo has an eye on him, he must be worthwhile. We are yet to see what is happening with Ricardo Carvalho and his future with rumours of him rejoining Jose Mourinho in Madrid.

KTBFFH