Pre-season Begins | Italian Old Lady Bids For Mikel| Modric Heads For Spurs Showdown Talks

Morning Blues.  Today, pre-season preparations for our squad begin at Cobham. The squad will train with Villas-Boas for the first time; they will also undergo a series of medical tests to monitor their health and fitness levels. I am glad our Blue Army are back in training; it has been tough living without them for so long. Watch Chelsea TV or visit the official Chelsea website to keep up to date on day 1 of preseason.

Reports in the Daily Mail suggest that Chelsea is ready to sell Mikel to Juventus for £15m. Daily Mail claims that we are chasing Michel Bastos to pave the way for Zhirkov to leave the club. I am going to take the Daily Mail’s stories with a pinch of salt. The reason is Villas-Boas is in charge of the transfer activity at the Bridge; Villas-Boas wants to monitor his players during pre-season, watch the gaps before selling or buying new players.  If Villas-Boas after examining the squad believes Mikel should leave, I will have no problem. The only thing is that we have to sign his replacement before we let him go. City, United and Liverpool have all strengthened their squad. We should seek to add more quality players before we even consider selling. For now, the Mikel to Juventus story is just pure speculation. Let us hope it remains that way. Concerning the Mail’s Bastos replacing Zhirkov story, I will have no reservations if it happens. Zhirkov has probably spent more time in the injury room than on the pitch for Chelsea. He is yet to show returns on the money we spent on him. For now, Bastos replacing Zhirkov story is also pure speculation. Villas-Boas has employed new fitness and medical personnel at Chelsea; let us hope Zhirkov remains fit throughout next season.

Yesterday, I wrote we should expect more developments on the Chelsea-Modric transfer saga. According to Skysports Modric will meet with Spurs chairman Levy this week to discuss his future. There are two possible outcomes of the meeting; first is Spurs will offer him an improved contract and then lie that they will make some quality signings this summer. The second is that Spurs will cave-in and sell him to us for a region between £22m-£30m. Let us hope for the latter.

KTBFFH

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