Chelsea FC-True Blue

Claude Makelele leaves Chelsea FC after five years and 217 games to Paris St Germain on a free transfer. The news was widely expected as there were reports of him taking medicals at PSG. He becomes the first player to leave Stamford Bridge after Scolari's arrival. He joined us for £16.8m in 2003 from Real Madrid and helped us achieve huge success in many trophies, the most important of which were the two league titles. He should have also won the Champions League for the second time in his career had it been not for the penalty miss by John Terry. But he can leave the club with his head held high after what he has achieved in his five years.

There is now a reason to overcome this sadness because of the fact that Petr Cech has now signed a new five year contract which will keep him with the club till 2013. He is one of the best keepers in the world, if not the best and its a real delight that he has chosen to sign the contract because he had only two years remaining on his previous contract. He was linked with major clubs in May but now he seems to be staying for years to come.

Micheal Essien look to be the next person to be awarded a new contract. Even though he signed a five year contract only 15 months ago the club are refusing to lose him to Inter Milan. Jose Mourinho is a huge admirer of Essien and was thought to be interested in the player. Though Essien has not signed any papers yet, he has agreed on a new five year contract worth £20 m. He has been one of the best consistent performers since his £24 m move from Lyon and it is also nice to know that he is staying for many more years.

Wayne Bridge has stunned everyone by signing a new four year deal which runs until 2012 just days after reports that he was on the verge of joining Portsmouth for £7 million, the same fee for which he joined the club. He has always been the second guy and the signing of Ashley Cole from Arsenal in 2006 pushed more on the sidelines. But he has always been a great professional and has done a wonderful job when always called upon. It is difficult to pick him ahead of Cole even though many believe that Cole is not the same player he once used to be when at Arsenal, because Cole is defensively better than Bridge. Had Cole started ahead of Bridge in the Carling Cup final, I think that we could have won it. Bridge lacks the big game experience and hence played in only 22 games.

Didier Drogba who was widely expected to surely leave Chelsea now looks set to stay till the end of his career. During the first press conference,Scolari said that Drogba is 200% in his plans. Now he has followed up the statement by giving a new contract to him worth £130,000-a-week which is equal to the amount earned by Captain, John Terry. He is the best striker in the world and with this wages offered he surely should not think about Milan and Madrid now, a thought which made him inconsistent and poor last season. I am hoping that now that theDROG comes back to his spectacular best which he is capable of.

Meanwhile his former Club, Marseille have said that their fans have staged an online petition to raise £22 million required to get Drogba. So far £1.5 million has been raised. But their Chief Executive said that even if they raised the money they won't be able to afford his wages.

Thanks for the image to magpieszone.com.

1) Chelsea have now rejected two official bids for England International, Frank Lampard. Both the bids are from Inter Milan and the first bid of around £6.5 million was rejected before Scolari's first press conference. The second bid of £8 million was put up by Inter after the press conference. It was also rejected.

Chief executive Peter Kenyon and Chairman Bruce Buck are both expecting Lampard to see out the remaining one year of his contract, during which the new contract offer of £140,000 per week, four year deal would always remain on the table. Lampard has said that he would love to stay at Chelsea but prefers a five year contract. Inter are offering four years and an option of the fifth.

Is this a good strategy by the club ? If they hold out a little more Lampard can fetch around £10 million. That is for a player who is 30. But on the other hand £10 million is not a big amount for owner, Roman Abramovich. Its the kind of amount, which I think he carries around in his pocket. Consider the fact that £30 million was spent of someone like Shevchenko, even though I think that he has not been that bad, spending £10 million on Lampard would not be that bad as there is 20 more goals in bag for this season, guaranteed.

2) Steve Sidwell, the first one of the mass exodus to follow has left Chelsea to join Aston Villa for £5 million. The guy never made it while at Chelsea and he leaves after only one season at the Bridge. He joined on the free transfer from Reading. He played only a few times, most as a substitute in the dying moments and has scored one goal. He was made to look worst of the worst in a midfield that consisted of Ballack, Lampard, Essien, Mikel and Makelele. Good luck to him for the future.

3) Scolari has said that there will be quite a few players leaving the bridge as the squad size is too large for him to work with. There are currently 32 members which is huge in any club. Scolari is looking to trim it to 25 which means 22 outfield players and 3 goalkeepers. So expect nearly seven players to depart the bridge. The top the pile would be Ben Haim, Malouda, Pizarro, Shaun Wright Phillips.

Thanks for the image to Dailymail.

Scolari was unveiled amid huge flashes from cameras yesterday as a new era for Chelsea FC dawned. Scolari has already interacted with the players when the pre-season training began at Cobham training ground on July 1st, 2008. Scolari answered to the reporters question in very good English much to the surprise of many. He answered questions regarding the futures of Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard and also whether there will be any more new signings at Chelsea this summer. About Lampard's situation he said

"I was very happy because I asked if he wants to stay and he said 'yes, I will stay at Chelsea',"

This is after Chelsea FC confirmed days before that it has had an OFFICIAL offer for Frank and that it had rejected it. Lampard is holding out for wages of nearly £150,000 per week which to be FRANK is quite huge. Whether Lampard stays or not does not depend on Scolari or Inter Milan but on Chelsea FC whether they are willing to offer such a huge to a man who is 30.

Regarding Drogba, he said that he expects Drogba to stay at Chelsea and that he is one of the best players in the world and features no 100% but 200% in his plans.

Regarding new arrivals in addition to Deco and Bosingwa he kept his cards close to his chest and mentioned that he wants to see the players more before deciding on who should be brought in and who should be allowed to leave.

And what Chelsea press conference would be complete without the phrase 'Beautiful Football', one which started when Grant was appointed back in September.Scolari mentioned that too and said that he would try his best to bring beautiful football to Stamford Bridge but also mentioned that winning is more important to him than beautiful football.

Scolari joked a lot and even called him the 'special one' but that was only to his family and friends. He had the unmistakable aura and arrogance of JoseMourinho but at the same time had the silent and understated character of Avram Grant.

Whether he'll be successful or not is a question the future will answer, but for now he seems to be one heck of a character who will certainly make the Premier League and Chelsea colorful.

Thanks for image to BBC.

AC Milan last night rejected a massive offer for European footballer of the year, Kaka. Chelsea have been interested in bringing Kaka to Stamford bridge for sometime now and they moved officially for the first time with a bid believed to be in the range of £50 million. This would make Kaka the biggest transfer in the history of football had the deal gone through. But strangely AC Milan choose to reject the bid in spite of their financial difficulties caused due to their failure to qualify for the Champions League this season.

1) The rumours about Drogba leaving has started again with Drogba's agent claiming that he would consider a move to Real Madrid. Whether Real Madrid do really want to sign him when there is already Raul, VanNistelrooy and Robinho in their squads. One possibility could be a straight swap with Robinho. There is also the possibility of reuniting with Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan. This news comes after Scolari had reportedly told that he doesn't Drogba but wants Samuel Eto'o. Drogba could be sold to fund a move for Eto'o.

2) I discussed previously in one of my previous posts if we needed Arshavin for the squad. Well, Roman Abramovich certainly thinks that way. Reports in Russia have emerged that both Chelsea and Barcelona, a club which Arshavin supports have had their bids accepted. But Chelsea are believed to be in pole position to sign the play maker for £12million.

3) Frank Lampard may not move to Inter this season according to Jose Mourinho. The former blues manager has said that he does not expect Lampard to be reunited with him this season but is pretty confident that he'll surely join them next season. Lampard is currently on a holiday in Italy.

Image thanks to Sky News.