Kevin Garnett Sells His Soul

Oh Kevin Garnett, why did you have to go and sell your soul?

Abromovich buys CO home

I wouldn't expect to see Roman Abramovich showing up at any Rapids games anytime soon. Well, unless he decides that Chelsea needs to do some training in Denver while he visits his new house in Aspen for a summer vacation.

From Rocky Mountain News : SNOWMASS VILLAGE — Chelsea chairman Roman Abramovich bought the Wildcat Ridge mansion in Snowmass Village on Tuesday for $36.375 million. The sale ended more than three years of attempts by Leon Hirsch to sell the estate using different brokers and even an auctioneer. “We’ve had multiple offers,” said listing broker Maureen Stapleton of BJ Adams Real Estate, which handled both sides of the transaction. The sale goes down as the third-most-expensive residential real estate deal in Pitkin County. The standard was set in February 2004, when Hollywood movie mogul Peter Guber sold his Mandalay Ranch, outside of Snowmass Village in the Owl Creek Valley, for $46 million to Dawn and Roland Arnall. And in December, Prince Bandar bin Sultan sold his 14,395-square-foot guest home to the Soffer family of Florida for $36.5 million — $125,000 more than what Abramovich paid. Abramovich, was ranked No. 16 last year on Forbes’ list of billionaires, with a net worth of $18.7 billion. In February, he bought a Snowmass Village home for $11.8 million. Stapleton said he likely will hold on to both properties and live there part time.

Ajax Gives Chelsea The Green Light

Sky Sports is reporting that Ajax have given Chelsea the green light in having talks with current Ajax manager Henk ten Cate. It's not a surprise. Since Mourhino's departure Chelsea's been rumored to pursuing ten Cate. Now we know it's official. Is this a good move by Chelsea? Is this a sign that other big name managers like Capello aren't interested in the job? What are the chances of ten Cate getting 7th placed Chelsea back into the mix in competing for the league title?

Mourinho Leaves Chelsea But....

As you know, Mourinho has left Chelsea. The question is, as Who Ate All the Pies points out, did he leave on his own accord or did Abramovich give him the boot? I wouldn't be surprised if Mourinho finally said enough is enough. It's been clear that a couple transfer windows that Chelsea hasn't been buying the type of players that Mourinho needs for his vision of the team.

What do you think? Did he leave on his own? Or is this own of those "mutual agreement" firings?

Beckham's Numbers

Curious about the impact that David Beckham's already had on the Los Angeles Galaxy's bottom line? If so, check out the MLS Underground's summary. Would you play those prices for their game against Chelsea?

More Euro Rumors

For this one, I have some random Euro rumors :

The talk about Lampard leaving Chelsea has ended, at least for the time being.

Alan Smith has been linked with a number of moves. The rumor is that SAF has decided he's no longer Manchester United material. Boro makes sense in that they're still looking for a replacement for Mark Viduka. Boro signed Tuncay Sanli on a free but he's a winger / forward.

Liverpool is balking £27 million price Atletico Madrid have placed on Fernando Torres. Despite massive spending so far, Manchester United is supposedly still sniffing around for others including Torres.

Charlton want £15 million for Marcus Bent.

Now that Henry's been sold to Barcelona, Arsenal seems to be linked with every half-way decent striker under the age of 30. Some of those include Carlos Tevez, Nicola Anelka (yep, Le Sulker), Samuel Et'o, and Diego Milito. This one seems most interesting to me. The question is if the Argitine Militio would want to leave Zaragoza and his brother Gabi who plays there (one of the best CB's in La Liga, btw).

Barcelona are said to be in talks with the brother of Arsenal's Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure.

More Transfers and Rumors

The rumour mill is in full swing even though summer hasn't yet begun. A few of the rumors floating around have even panned out to be true.

• Roberto Carlos has left Real Madrid on a free transfer for Turkish club Fenerbahce.
• Deco to Inter Milan as a replacement for Figo. This despite Deco insisting that he's not leaving Barcelona.
• Frank Lampard leaving Chelsea for Barcelona. One report said the move could occur for as little as £12 million.
• Ex-Charlton, Ex-Chelsea player Scott Parker leaving Newcastle for West Ham is no longer a rumor. He's made the move for £7 million.
• Real Madrid have signed German centerback Christian Mezthelder. But they're also after Chelsea's Arjen Robben and Manchester United's Gabriel Heinze and Barcelona's Javier Saviola.
• Sevilla coach Juande Ramos has been linked with a number of clubs.
• Miroslav Klose is rumored to be close to completing a move to Bayern Munich. He's said in the past he wouldn't move there but more and more it looks like this rumor is true. As to why he's had this change of heart is another matter. One claim is tha this wife has been having an affair with one of his Bremen teammates prompting Miroslav to want to move to the other end of Germany.
• Bayern Munich also look set to sign Frank Ribbery for £17 million today. He would join Luca Toni.
• Bayern Munich and Chelsea are also rumored to be in talks about a deal that would involve Bouhlarouz heading to Bavaria and Claudio Pizarro going the other way to London.

Bayern Munich isn't in the CL next year. So why would players like Toni, and others join them? I've always suspected that while the CL play is important, it was code for money. If a club is in the Champions League they're likely able to shell out more for bonuses and wages. This time And there are sorts of other rumors and signings going on. All the activity at Bayern Munich has me wondering about what it means when players talk about the importance of ChamptionsRibbery, KloseBM's not there but they still have the revenues for a summer of big spending. It'll be interesting to see what happens if they don't gel as a squad and they miss out on the CL again next year.

Bocanegra Makes 10 Worst Buys List

Norman Hubbard at Soccernet has a column up on the 10 worst buys in the Premiership for this year and Carlos Bocanegra made it on the list. But it's not in that way. Boca's been at Fulham for a few years. This list is only of players who were newly purchased by their club for 06-07. Boca is on this list as a comparison for the number one (that is, the single worst) on Hubbard's list. Congrats to Carlos on outscoring Shevchenko!

1. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, £30.7 million)

Carlos Bocanegra 5, Andriy Shevchenko 4. The West London shootout is being won by Fulham's American defender who, though not even a set-piece specialist, is outscoring Britain's costliest player in the Premiership. At Chelsea, the callow Salomon Kalou has struck almost twice as often. Shevchenko's occasional high-class finishes - such as his FA Cup goal against Tottenham - only heighten the exasperation with a player of undoubted quality. Sublime in Serie A, he has been poor in the Premiership. Missing the Champions League semi-final second leg, exactly the sort of match he was signed for, hardly helped but when Jose Mourinho referred, in his indictment of the players who had cost Chelsea a third successive title, of those who would fail to garner a single vote in the club's Player of the Year voting, he surely had their biggest buy in mind

Summer Transfer Rumors

We're still months away from the summer transfer window but that hasn't prevented the rumors from flowing. Here's a few of them floating around : Cannavaro to Napoli - Yep, that's right. They may be in the Serie B but apparently Fabio is willing to entertain a move to his hometown club. Valeri Bojinov to Barcelona - Barcelona are looking at the 21 year old Bulgarian Bojinov as a replacement for the Javier Saviola (out of contract). Micah Richards to Manchester United - Soccer365 is reporting that Manchester United are looking to put in a £20 million bid for the 18 year old. Is Glazer looking to placate fans by spending some money or can a fullback really be worth that much money? Florent Malouda to Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus - There's nothing definite yet but the 26 year-old French International (22 caps) is talking about a move. Although he admits a move to Chelsea is unlikely with Mourinho's future there seemingly up in the air right now. Jefferson Farfan to Chelsea, Arsenal - PSV's fast dribbling Peruvian striker is being linked with a few clubs both as a sale and as a loan move (Chelsea). He's also been linked with a move to Newcastle. Arjen Robben to Barcelona - The rumor is that the 23 year old is ready to move on and make use a new FIFA rule that allows players that have played in a foreign country for 3 years to buy-out the rest of their contract and move. Barcelona are unwilling to meet Chelsea's £12m+ asking price for the Dutch winger but reportedly more than happy to throw an extra £2m in the pot to buy-out the remainder of his contract.

What About Shevchenko?

Instead of speculating about John Terry's future at Chelsea, the real question is if Andrei Shevchenko will be with the team next year. The £30 million summer signing has only scored 3 times in 25 appearances in league play for Chelsea. As pointed by readers and the press, Mourinho's future at Chelsea is under question. He wasn't given any money to spend during the winter window. Since then he has stated he's looking to fulfill his contract that ends in 2010. Even if Mourinho stays, it doesn't mean Sheva won't be sold this summer. Players like Kezman, Veron, and Del Horno were quickly sold off when they didn't perform. And with the club looking to find a way to break even during the next few years, Chelsea very well may be ready to cast off Shevchenko to help reach that goal.

Would Terry Leave

There's a lot being made of John Terry's contract status. With new FIFA rules, he could buy out the last 2 years of his contract and move to a new club. And talks his agent has had with Chelsea are reported to have broke down. The real question here is why would John Terry want to leave Chelsea? He's reported to be pulling in £4.5 million / year. He's been with Chelsea since he was a youth with his only time away from the club being a short loan stint at Nottingham Forest. He's never expressed any interested in leaving Chelsea. Why would he now?