DOUBLE UPDATE -  Adrian Mutu has officially filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A CAS statement said: “Mutu requests the CAS to annul the Fifa decision and to establish that no compensation is in fact due.”

UPDATE - Instead of 9.6 Million Pound, make that 13.68 Million Pound that Adrian Mutu has to pay back to Chelsea FC after FIFA ruled in favor of the Premier Leauge Club.

‘The club can confirm that it has received the decision from FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) on the claim made against Adrian Mutu,’ read a statement from Chelsea. ‘Chelsea is delighted with the DRC’s decision to award the club £13.68million in compensation.’

‘This is an important decision for football. Not only did the DRC make us a very significant monetary award, the decision also recognized the damaging effect incidents involving drugs has on football and the responsibilities we all have in this area.’Chelsea will now be following the process laid out in the DRC’s decision to claim the money from Mutu.’

Ouch. I’ll say that again, Ouch.

Romanian and Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu has been ordered to pay 9.6 Million Pound to Chelsea Football Club after a FIFA sporting tribunal judged the club was allowed to recover compensation for wages and transfer money lost when Mutu tested positive for Cocaine back in October of 2004 (the player was also handed a 7 month ban).

Beans and I have been racking our brains about this one. We can’t figure out if this is the first time a player has been forced to pay back money/damages to a club and held accountable for choices made off the field. Makes you wonder what really happened behind the scenes after this all went down.

Chelsea had initially paid 15 Million Pound to Parma in 2003.

Yesterday it was Emirates, today it was Stamford Bridge for Tottenham at Chelsea.

Dave’s view today was from the Shed end.

UPDATE -  Done deal as Shaun Wright-Phillips heads back north to City on a four year deal that some are saying is worth 80,000 Pound a week.

“To actually secure the deal and bring Shaun back home is a fantastic coup for us and I’m sure the supporters will be just as excited as we are to have him back at Manchester City,” said gaffer Mark “Sparky” Hughes.

IF reports about Shaun Wright-Phillips being in Manchester for a medical before a 9 Million Pound transfer to City are true, then City just pulled off one hell of a business deal.

Yup, that 21 Million Pound that Chelsea paid just three years ago looks even crazier now considering the fact they never truly gave him a constant run in the side.

With City in Denmark ahead of their return leg at Danny Califf’s FC Midtjylland on Thursday night and being down 1 - nil after City’s loss at home last week, Mark Hughes must be clamoring the board trying to get Phillips on his roster ASAP.

image via UniqueAutographs

Oh, the drama…..

With all the talk about Robinho and a possible move to Chelsea, according to Peter Kenyon the deal would have to be done before 5pm on Thursday if the Brazilian is to be available at the weekend against Spurs.

Has the 24 year old agreed to a 5 year deal after Real Madrid rumored acceptance of 26 Million Pound?

Was Peter Kenyon in Madrid last weekend?

image via Insurancetechguru

It’s been a long time coming, but common sense has prevailed and Andriy Shevchenko is on his way back home.

Chelsea and AC Milan have finally reached an agreement that is subject only to a medical, with Milano Supremo Silvio Berlusconi happy with the terms.

“After a series of frantic phone calls during the day today, we have reached an agreement with Chelsea,” Adriano Galliani told Milan Channel.  “Andriy returns to the Rossoneri, tomorrow he will be in Milan, Monday he will undergo a medical, then he will sign a contract and from Tuesday he will be available to Carlo Ancelotti.“We succeeded in bringing home the player who in the last 50 years has scored the most goals in our shirt.  Andriy made a mistake in leaving and I believe that in the past two years he has realised that this is his home.  Now he has made his financial sacrifices but at this point the only thing that matters is that he returns to us.”

That’s a damn good group of players to choose from.

image via E-Fotbal

With the saga that is Robinho to Chelsea seemingly over just last week before Real Madrid’s Spanish Super Cup first round leg at Valencia, now word is trickling down that Chelsea’s Chief Executive was spotted in Madrid.

Now if this is true, Robinho could be on his way to London ASAP as Kenyon would most likely be sent down by the board to tie things up and put a close to the 25 Million Pound deal.

And let’s be honest, Robinho looked uninterested in last weekend’s loss at Valencia.

Wonder now if Chelsea will let Andrei Shevchenko finalize his loan deal to AC Milan once Robinho’s deal gets finished.

Remember Mateja Kezman?

Yup, the Mateja Kezman that The Special One signed from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven for 5.3 Million Pound after the young Serbian forward dropped 126 goals in 172 matches.

After failing to cement his place in the Chelsea side and only starting 14 times (although he appeared in 37 total games, scoring 7 goals),  Kezman was sold to the other Madrid, Atletico Madrid for just a tad higher than what Chelsea had paid.

Once again Kezman featured for just one season (appearing in just 33 matches, scoring 10 times) before being sold to Turkish giants Fenerbache for $9.75 Million, scoring 26 times in 56 appearances in two seasons.

Now Kezman is off once again, this time to Ligue1 side PSG after the French club paid 4 Million Euro (and the 1 Million Euro the 29 year old had to pay himself to get out of his Fenerbache contract) for the very talented player known for being hotheaded.

With a once very promising Serbian National Team career at his feet with 49 appearances and 17 goals, Kezman has not been recalled since his sending off against Argentina in the 2006 World Cup.

image via Photos4

News of Frank lampard signing a long term deal with Chelsea today has been all over the Interwebs. This has got me thinking about where this leaves German star Michael Ballack. With Scolari bringing in Deco, and Lamps re-upping, I have to imagine that Scolari will be going with this Deco / Lamps combo. At 31 years old, Ballack has to be thinking about what is best for him as he heads into the latter stages of his career. Playing second fiddle to Deco and Lampard can’t sit well with Ballack, and with his huge salary (which I’m sure Chelsea would be happy to part with), I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if we see the German try to make a move away from The Bridge.

In a scathing attack on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, Bayern Munich General Manager Uli Hoeness declared via the Daily Mail that ‘Thanks to the huge investments many clubs make, there are no longer any serial European Cup winners similar  to Ajax and Bayern in the Seventies.

‘The old hierarchy has been abolished.  A better-balanced competition sounds tempting, but I don’t know whether the investments have been good for football.  I get annoyed every week when I go to fill my car up with petrol. The oil Mafia is taking money out of my pocket to invest it in footballers.

(more…)

Chelsea have confirmed that they have made an official offer to Real Madrid for their thumb sucking Brazilian, also known as Robinho. The Blues made the announcement on their website and the offer is believed to be in the £20million range.  The thought of him flying up and down the field has got to be a scary thought for the rest of the Premiership.