Vesper

Chelsea Shakhtar CEO Palkin: “Chelsea’s offer for Mudryk has no Ballon d’Or clause. It is achievable bonuses that we feel can be reached.” Bonuses are €30m — and all related to Champions League and Premier League wins during next years. 📰 Newcastle, Everton, Southampton and Nottingham Forest have enquired about signing Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher (Mail)

40 days after this match, the first iPhone launched, on June 29, 2007 Number one song in the UK charts (was number one for the next 10 weeks straight)

Arsenal star William Saliba 'rejects new contract' with big gap between club and player Arsenal defender William Saliba has reportedly rejected the club's latest offer of a new contract. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1722512/Arsenal-transfer-news-William-Saliba-contract-Mikel-Arteta

Manchester United set for bidding war as Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS launch takeover attempt https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1722530/Manchester-United-takeover-Jim-Ratcliffe-INEOS-attempt Manchester United are set for a bidding war after Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirmed his Ineos group have entered the running to buy the club. The British billionaire is the first to publically confirm his intentions to make an offer for the club as the Glazers look to sell up after 18 years of ownership. United were first put on the market in November after the Glazer family announced that it was 'commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives' for the club. Options ranging from bringing 'new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company' were to be considered with interested parties invited to come forward. However, it is thought that a full sale is the most likely outcome. Bids are expected from the Middle East, the United States and Asia but British businessman Ratcliffe is the first to officially confirm his interest. A spokesperson confirmed to the Times that “we have formally put ourselves into the process” in a statement on Tuesday. Interested parties currently have to sign up in order to see confidential financial documents and complete their due diligence before a takeover. This process is expected to be on going over the coming weeks before formal bids start next month with the club potentially changing hands before the end of the season. A bidding war for the club is likely to ensue with the Glazers said to be holding out for at least £5billion. The figure is almost certain to dwarf the £4.25bn Todd Boehly and his Clearlake Capital Group spent to buy Chelsea last year in what would be a record for a British sports team. Ratcliffe was among the interested parties to buy the Blues last year but left it too late before he was able to launch a bid. He also owns Ligue 1 Nice but it is United who are believed to be the apple of his eye, with the 70-year-old said to be a long-term supporter of the club. Ineos are already investors in a host of sports teams including Mercedes F1, New Zealand Rugby and the Team Sky cycling team (later rebranded to become Team Ineos).

Chelsea are ‘in talks’ with PSV Eindhoven winger Noni Madueke’s agent regarding a potential move to the Premier League, according to journalist Simon Phillips. https://thisisfutbol.com/2023/01/blogs/premier-league/Chelsea/Chelsea-noni-madueke-latest-transfer-news-rumours-updates/ Graham Potter’s side have recently signed Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix on loan until the end of the season, but Todd Boehly isn’t showing any signs of slowing down when it comes to wanting to make even more attacking reinforcements. The Times have claimed that the Blues are contemplating a move for the 20-year-old Madueke, with Fabrizio Romano confirming that the club hierarchy are huge admirers and are keen to bring him to Stamford Bridge. Speaking to GiveMeSport, Phillips revealed that Chelsea are currently holding discussions with Madueke’s representatives, but admitted that the club are worried about his consistent previous injury problems. “I was told that Chelsea are in talks with his agent as well to try and sign him. “But he has a bad injury history, and obviously, this is something that Chelsea are concerned about. So, I don’t really know what stage those talks are at right now.” TIF thoughts on Madueke to Chelsea… Chelsea already have a significant number of players sidelined and they won’t want to add any more casualties to that list, but recruiting Madueke is a no-brainer of a decision should the opportunity arise. The London-born talent has posted 34 goal contributions in 80 Eredivisie appearances and currently ranks in the 99th percentile for most shots and dribbles completed by wingers. Madueke also has two trophies to his name so would be able to add a much-needed taste of success to the squad this month with the aim of helping the Blues secure a top-four finish.

The staggering hypocrisy of Wimbledon’s ban on Russian and Belarusian tennis players https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/06/28/bmay-j28.html Play began at the 135th edition of the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London on Monday without the participation of Russian or Belarusian athletes. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) announced in April that it was going along with British government’s demands, part of the chauvinist hysteria aimed at justifying the US-NATO proxy war with Russia. The ban on Russian and Belarusian players means that five of the top 100 male players, four Russians (Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Aslan Karatsev) and one Belarusian (Ilya Ivashka) will not be in attendance. Medvedev, reigning US Open champion, is currently ranked number one in the world and Rublev number eight. Eleven of the top 100 female players, eight Russians (Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Ludmilla Samsonova, Varvara Gracheva, Anna Kalinskaya, Anastasia Potapova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and three Belarusians (Aryna Sabalenka, Victoria Azarenka, Aliaksandra Sasnovich) have also been blocked from competing. Sabalenka, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, is ranked number six in the world, Kasatkina number thirteen, Kudermetova number nineteen and Azarenka number twenty. The prohibition on the tennis players has been widely criticized even within the elite tennis world. In order that the Russian and Belarusian players will not be penalized, the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals), the worldwide tour for men, and the Women’s Tennis Association, the equivalent for women, along with the International Tennis Federation, have stripped Wimbledon of ranking points this year, effectively reducing it, in the words of one commentator, to an “exhibition” tournament. However, the 40 million pounds (US$50 million) in prize money has continued to draw most of the top players. Current and former tennis stars, including Novak Djokovic, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe and Sloane Stephens, have opposed the ban. Describing himself as “a child of war,” in reference to the bloody conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s, Djokovic, a Serb, has said that he does not see how the Russian and Belarusian players “have contributed to anything that is really happening. … I don’t feel it’s fair.” Stephens, a member of the WTA Player Council, former world number three and 2017 US Open champion, defended the decision to strip Wimbledon of its ranking points on the grounds that “discrimination will never be tolerated.” The hypocrisy of the All England Club decision is almost supernatural. Chairman of the board Ian Hewitt told ESPN that the ban of Russian and Belarusian players was a decision that was “beyond the interests of tennis alone” and was “influenced by the directive guidance which the government gave us in relation to the matter.” Hewitt went on to tell ESPN that given the profile the tournament had, “it was very important to us that Wimbledon … should not be used in any way, by the propaganda machine which we know the Russian government employs in relation to its own people and how their position in the world is presented and … we just would not countenance Wimbledon success or participation in Wimbledon being misused in that way.” The crimes of the Putin regime are considerable, including its reactionary invasion of Ukraine, which has provided the US and its gangster allies in Europe the occasion to intervene in the conflict, massively increase defense spending and bring the world to the verge of nuclear war. However, what is the record of the Wimbledon tournament in relation to “tragic situations” (Hewitt) like the one in Ukraine? First of all, one needs to point out that black players were not allowed to play at the All England Club until 1951, and Jews were not accepted until 1952. Angela Buxton, the British Jewish former Wimbledon doubles champion in 1956 (as the partner of African-American Althea Gibson), told a reporter that 50 years after her triumph she had not been invited by the Club to join. She observed that she had been on the “waiting list” since she applied in the 1950s. Since the first Wimbledon tournament in the 1870s, the British ruling class and its military have carried out invasions, occupations, massacres and assorted atrocities in so many parts of the globe (India, Ireland, Kenya, etc.) that it would take a dozen articles of this length merely to identify them. As the great Marxist Leon Trotsky once noted of British imperialism, “bribery, eloquence and deception, and colonial methods of sanguinary oppression and hypocrisy, along with every other form of vileness, have entered equally into the rich arsenal of the ruling clique of the world’s greatest empire.” In more recent years, reduced to the status of a subordinate power, the British powers-that-be have acted as willing allies of the US in further massive crimes, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. Has the All England Club ever spoken out against or acted in regard to a single one of these horrors? The question is purely rhetorical. The Club, whose board of directors includes the expected assortment of multi-millionaire businessmen, wealthy lawyers and lords and ladies, spiritually presided over by the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton), has turned itself, eagerly, without a whimper, into an arm of the despised Boris Johnson government and its filthy foreign policy. There is not much more to say.

'I really do': Ornstein says there's another signing he expects Chelsea to make soon, in talks with £10m star https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/i-really-do-ornstein-says-theres-another-signing-he-expects-Chelsea-to-make-soon-in-talks-with-10m-star/ David Ornstein has told The Athletic’s Football Podcast that he expects Chelsea to sign a striker this January. The Blues have enjoyed a busy and fruitful Janaury so far, as Todd Boehly continues his spending spree as the new club owner. They have invested for the future with the signings of David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos, with Benoit Badiashile also impressing in his first start for the club at the weekend. Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk represent two big name additions this winter, as they look to rescue somewhat of a respectful finish to the campaign. However, plenty of reports suggest that they are still looking to add to their ranks in the next two weeks. Chelsea could sign Thuram They have been linked to a right-back to compete with Reece James, as well as a midfielder in the face of a potential exodus in that role. There have also been links to further strengthening the attack. The Blues are reportedly interested in Marcus Thuram as the desired option, with Ornsetin claiming they have already been in talks over potentially signing him. He said: “I think they will take a striker. I really do. They have been in talks with Marcus Thuram, let’s see how that develops. They see Kai Havertz as a number 10, not someone leading the line. There’s been interest in the likes of Osimhen and Vlahovic. They consider so many players.” The Chelsea staff will certainly be making any signings safe in the knowledge that they will be bringing in Christopher Nkunku in the summer, With Mudryk and potentially Felix also at the club next year, it will take a lot of thinking and a few departures in order to get the club in a position where they’re back competing.

Report: Agent of £53m player jets into London this week, after claims Chelsea want him https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/report-agent-of-53m-player-is-in-london-this-week-after-claims-Chelsea-could-try-and-sign-him/ Denzel Dumfries’ representative will reportedly be in the English capital this week, amid claims Chelsea could make a move for him. According to GiveMeSport, the agent of the Inter Milan player is set land in London some time in the next few days, potentially to organise a transfer to ‘The Big Smoke’. Of course, Dumfries’ delegate might just be doing a bit of sightseeing. A touristic tour that could take him to the offices of Stamford Bridge, where his client reportedly has several interested suitors. The Inter defender has been linked with a possible transfer to Chelsea throughout the campaign, as the club attempt to strengthen their full-back options. Particularly at right-back, where Cesar Azpilicueta is the only senior player available to cover that position currently. Reece James’ remains on the side-lines through injury, whilst Trevoh Chalobah’s recent performances in this area of the field have not been ground breaking. Denzel Dumfries could possibly improve Chelsea Dumfries would represent a formidable right-back, who can also be deployed as a wing-back if the formation requires. He is a proven attacking weapon as well as a defensive force, having contributed 17 goals in 68 appearances for Inter in just under two seasons. His Serie A employers are said to be willing to sell the Dutch international to help balance their books. They value the 26-year-old between £44m and £53m.

surely we must be looking for a RB as well

now going with condescending misogyny as a mode whatever

no mo fro

Spuds epic 2004 choke In 2004, both Tottenham and Manchester City were the flakiest of outfits. In this fourth round replay, Spurs charged into a 3-0 half-time lead and City's bad boy midfielder Joey Barton was dismissed at the interval for behaving like... well, Joey Barton. Hordes of City fans headed for the exits. But in the second half, 10-man City launched an epic comeback. Sylvain Distin reduced the arrears on 48 minutes, then Paul Bosvelt struck No.2 with a deflected effort 20 minutes later. With 10 left, a marauding Shaun Wright-Phillips pulled City level at 3-3, before substitute John Macken headed home a dramatic winner for Kevin Keegan's men seconds from time. As the jubilant City team celebrated with the supporters who'd stuck around, Tottenham fans disappeared sharpish into the north London night. "I'm speechless," admitted Kevin Keegan, possibly for the first time ever.

Club announce they have paid final instalment of deal with Chelsea – No longer owe Blues money https://sportwitness.co.uk/club-announce-paid-final-instalment-deal-Chelsea-no-longer-owe-blues-money/ With Brazilian clubs often drowning in debts, it’s normally a big deal when they manage to settle some payments. This seems to be the case with Atlético Mineiro, who officially announced they no longer owe money to Chelsea. On Twitter, the Brazilian side confirmed that they’ve settled the debt for the signing of Nathan, who joined the club back in 2020. It’s said Atlético paid Chelsea the final instalment from this deal, which was worth R$7m (£1.1m), and are now free of that debt. Nathan belonged to Chelsea for five years after he joined the club still in 2015 in a €4m deal from Athletico Paranaense, but was never given the chance of making a single appearance for the Blues. The midfielder was then involved in several loans during that period, having featured for Vitesse, Amiens, Belenenses and Atletico Mineiro until his permanent €3m sale was done. Nathan is still only 26, and now tries to make a new path in Brazilian football, even though his stay at the Galo is not guaranteed for the current season. In yet another step towards cleaning up the Club's finances, Atlético paid off, last Friday, January 13th, the remaining portion of the purchase of midfielder Nathan from Chelsea, from England. The amount paid was 7,096 million reais.

thank fuck Elon Musk did not buy us!!!!!

please stop broad-brushing collective guilt onto all Russians

we shall see as I said before I have faith

I mentioned no names you are the one having a go and getting personal in terms of insults I mentioned no specific names and it was not a direct 'quote reply' to anyone ironic that you are positing that I am putting words into people's mouths when you just did exactly that with me this is what I said

lol Yep, that's me, thick as a brick. 🤪 They even wrote music about me 22 years before I was born, cuz they knew I was coming.

you know, the true PR win is us in the West stripping Russia of their best (by far) young outfield player I think another club should also move for the only other Russian player who interests me much atm

I find it hilarious that a few here who apparently had no issues with supporting a team owned by a Russian billionaire who literally was helping to fund Putin and Russian governmental entities for decades, are now developing cases of virtue signalling, tongue clucking, and moral compartmentalising over us trying to by a Russian teen creative MF for £12m smdh

we shall see you sound giddy at the possibility of us being blocked in a SPORTING TRANSACTION smdh

it's going to a bloody football team, not into the Russian war budget and £22m of our money IS going into the Ukrainian war budget, via Shakhtar's commitment what is actually funding Putin is the hundreds of billions being spent on Russian oil and gas

British tabloid and telly media culture is toxic shite ignore it

that Copa America field was one of the weakest in the past 50 years I talked about it back when it was happening