Football Gossip

Joe Cole hails his new manager Phil Scolari after, finally being able to express his natural position and style under the new managerial regime.

 Joe Cole seems to be criticising the two previous managers with their regimented formulaic football which prevented the England international from claiming a regular first team shirt. Avram Grant and Jose Mourinho the previous two managers disapproved of Cole demonstrating his tricks and flicks on the football pitch.

The Chelsea team commenced training this week with the new boss instantly captured the respect of the entire squad. Cole feels he can dazzle again under the new liberating manager who is known for his attacking and entertaining football. Scolari has managed both Portugal and Brazil.

Cole reveals all in a recent interview:

“I’m getting a good vibe from Scolari.

“It is early days but he seems very approachable and has a huge football pedigree.

“I’m really excited to play for him, I’m chomping at the bit to get fit and out there.

“The way he sets his teams up, I’ve been waiting for it my entire career — a manager who wants to play the right way.

“I’m nearly 27 now and have been waiting for someone like him to come along.

“He already has the respect of the boys and has settled in nicely. I think it’s going to be happy days for everyone.”

Cole admitting he has spoken to the Portugese star Paulo Ferreira, who played under Scolari at Euro 2008.

“From what I know about the way he set up Portugal and Brazil, and watching them play it was beautiful football, there are plenty of players who like to get the ball down, I’m so excited.

“I spoke to Paulo about him and people who have played for him have a lot of respect for him and say what a good manager he is.

“That’s a good sign because normally whenever you speak to people about a manager you often get mixed opinions. But everybody seems very complimentary.”

Cole’s tricks and flicks:

Spanish press claim Robinho’s agent is in talks with Chelsea about a possible transfer. Real Madrid are confident of securing the premiership’s player of the year Cistiano Ronaldo and so can afford to offload the want-a-way forward Robinho.

Marca the Spanish newspaper assert that Robinho’s agent Wagner Riberio has met with Chelsea representatives including the sporting director Frank Arneson over his possible move to the London club.

The paper claims that Real Madrid need to raise money to finance their move for Cristiano Ronanldo which, if reports are accurate, will break all records. Real Madrid are asking for offers above £29milllion for the Brazilian striker Robinho.

The selling of their Brazilian star will be dependant on the aquisition of the Man Utd forward. This highlights Real Madrid’s confidence in signing the Portuguese winger, that they have already begun talks to sell the creative forward.

Real Madrid’s president Ramon Calderon reportedly told the 2008 Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal that the signing of Ronaldo was as good as done even though he has repeatedly and publicly announced that he didn’t wish to talk about the transfer saga.

Robinho Vs Ronaldo

Arsene Wenger is winning the race for the signing of the highly rated Russian playmaker Arshavin ahead of Chelsea. Arshavin has attracted the attention of the Frenchman at the recent European Chanpionship 2008. His impressive performances in the tournament were instrumental in Russia’s run to the final and was enlisted in the UEFA EURO 2008™ Team of the Tournament.

This £15million star is in a four way tug-of-war after resisting a new £3.9million-a-year contract from his current club Zenit St Petersburg. The clubs interested in him include Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona.

Chelsea have recently inquired about the player and have a significant advantage over the other clubs due to Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich Russian connection. It seems that Abramovich will enforce a Russian player to be included in the Chelsea squad because of the recent success of the Russian team. Arshavin seems the most likely candidate as he was the most influential player in the team.

Arsene Wenger has been labelled “a cunning fox” in his pursuit of the Russian forward. The Arsenal manager is trying to outwit his competition by sending out mixed messages of his involvement. In true Arsene Wenger style this is probably an attempt to reduce the asking price of the player.

An interview of Zenit club official Dennis Lakhter reveals certain truths:

“In the morning he says (Arsene Wenger) Arshavin will play all the time at his club(Arsenal) and during the day he says he doubts the capabilities of Andrei to play three games in a row at the highest level.

“But this is a tactic to fool the competition.

“He calls Andrei a Tsar and then tries to deny interest in the player.”

Lakhter said Arsenal and Barcelona have made approaches but Arsenal remain “the most active”.

View Arshavin football skills here: