The Chelsea Daily Drivel (Catch Up)

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 Saturday 24th July/Sunday 25th July 2010 including: Didier Drogba's surgery, Raimres to choose Chelsea?, Franco Di Santo on the way out?, Chelsea enter race for David Luiz, Ricardo Carvalho free to leave Chelsea and Van Der Vaart on his way?.

First to news of surgery for Didier Drogba as confirmed on the Chelsea website. The statment reads:

Didier Drogba successfully underwent minimally invasive surgery yesterday [Friday] on the groin injury that had troubled him for some of last season. The decision to perform the procedure after his return from the World Cup was made to optimise his rehabilitation, and he is expected to return to full training in approximately three weeks.

Well I have to say that was a surprise to me. Never knew anything about his groin problems as I do not remember him missing out much on last season apart from the ANC in January. So its Didier added to Cech and Alex that are out for three weeks including definatley the Community Shield on 8th August against United at Wembley and possibly the season opener on 14th August at home to West Brom. Let's hope he recovers as soon as possible.

Now more on Brazlian star Ramires. As reported on yesterdays Daily Drivel his father was quoted as not being happy that Benfica had turned down an official reported approach from Chelsea for his son. It now seems as though Chelsea have made a further offer believed to be in the region of £20m which will be enough to get him. A "Source" is quoted as saying:

"He has opted to go to Chelsea, and the deal can be done in the next couple of days, certainly by next week."

It seems as though to me anyway that its a perfect deal for Chelsea. He was one we never knew about before the World Cup but made his name without question. The 23 year old defensive midfielder would come to Chelsea to beef up our midfield options. It looks like it will be a straight fight for the position between him and Mikel as Essien will be deployed further forward. Let's hope we have confirmation in the coming days.

Now to more on Franco Di Santo. Its seems that Chelsea will definatley send him out on loan for this season again after two less than impressive performances in the two Pre Season games he has featured in so far. As reported already on here there are a number of clubs who are interested such as Dutch club Feyenoord, Wigan Athletic, Blackburn, Bolton Wanderers and FC Twente are also thought to be in the hunt for the Argentinean. Expect Di Santo to leave on loan before Aug 14th.

Now to news of another player Chelsea are reported as interested in and that's another Benfica Brazlian and that's David Luiz. Its reported that Chelsea are in the hunt for the Defender with a bid of £27m on the cards. Again this is one I personally do not know alot about buf if Carlo wants him and we are prepared to bid that much, there must be something about him.

Now to Ricardo Carvalho. It seems that he has reached an agreement with the club to leave this summer with a move to Real Madrid a dream for him. He said:

If there was a possibility to sign with Real Madrid, I would go there right now swimming or running, Chelsea have a commitment with me to let me go this summer, for reasons which those responsible at the club and I know.

It would be a dream to be able to play for Madrid, which I consider to be the best club in the world, and follow the orders of the best coach in the history of football. With Mourinho I experienced two marvellous stages at Porto and Chelsea. To have the opportunity to win another Champions League with him at Real Madrid would be tremendous.

I find myself in the best moment of my career, because physically I am at the top and moreover I have a great experience. I spent six spectacular years at Chelsea and I had the opportunity to experience a glorious period of this club, but I repeat that to sign for Madrid would be a dream.

I'm very grateful to Roman Abramovich for signing me and making me part of the Chelsea project for six years. He was a very important person for English football and Chelsea, who became one of the best teams in the world."

Finally we are heading to Real Madrid and one of their current stars Rafael Van Der Vaart. Of course with Mourinho taking over this summer there alot of players are being linked with moves away as it seems that one or two of them will not be part of his plans.

Van Der Vaart has spoken out and said he would be happy to come to England as long as he was given a starting spot and has mentioned that there has already been interest from Chelsea. He said:

“I have heard of the interest from Liverpool and Chelsea – and that is very flattering. If either of them were willing to offer me first-team football, I will be honest that it would be very hard for me to not listen to what they had to say.

I think I have the relationship with Madrid where they understand my position and would let me hold talks. I expect the majority of transfers to be concluded in the next two weeks, and if Chelsea or Liverpool wanted to talk with me I would at the very least listen to what they have to say.

They are both giants, and if they could offer first-team football it may prove impossible to turn down. Real Madrid is the most prestigious club in the world and I am happy here and also in Spain, but I am at the age where I have to be playing first-team football. I am getting to the point where I will be hitting my peak years and I need to spend those years at a club where I will be playing regularly.

The boss knows how much he plans to use me, and if he is willing to listen to offers for me. I wouldn’t be willing to play for any clubs in Spain out of respect for Madrid, so in my eyes the only other place to go would be the Premier League. It’s the only league that competes with the standard of La Liga.”

Definatley in my eyes a direct replacement for Ballack. He is superb on the ball and a very similar player to Wesley Sneijder.

More tomorrow! KTBFFH