Goals in consecutive Wembley FA Cup ties. An astonishing chip and key assist in home and away clashes against Barcelona. Relentless enthusiasm and energy impacting game after game.

Chelsea fans hardly need to be told about the impact of Ramires on the 2011/12 season, but as the campaign reaches the business end it has become more and more apparent that the Blues have another amongst their ranks who produces when the stakes are at their highest.

As Didier Drogba added to his Wembley lore and as Frank Lampard continued to extend his remarkable legacy, the Queniano Azul was busy at work affirming his status as one of the club’s best footballers.

It’s not just in the last month that he’s turned up when it matters most either. En route to the big game in Munich in a fortnight’s time, Chelsea faced win-or-bust ties at Stamford Bridge against Valencia, Napoli and Benfica, and on each occasion Ramires put in a sterling performance with a decisive impact.

He was directly involved in Branislav Ivanovic’s spectacular extra-time winner against the Italians, and his trademark lung-bursting running was there for all to see with the second goal against Valencia in December.

The Brazilian ensured that the road to Wembley got off to a good start with a brace against Portsmouth a week after grabbing a stoppage time winner away to Wolves at a time when the club’s league results and performances were decidely shaky.

He took some time to settle, and there were more than a few doubters during his first few months at the club, but as last season wore on he began to show signs of being the player he has been all season.

A superb solo effort against Manchester City was voted the club’s Goal of the Season and it’s a title he could well retain this time around with his exquisite chip in the Nou Camp.

Versatile enough to have been used in almost every midfield position required by Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo, he has been your prototypical box-to-box midfielder yet has also been the tactically adept winger able to retain shape and nullify the pronounced threat of attacking full-backs like Daniel Alves.

Unfortunately, the man with no song will be missing in Munich and whilst Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Merieles, and John Terry are all big omissions in their own right, it speaks volumes that Ramires is considered to be the hardest loss of all for Chelsea fans.

The way he’s played of late, it’s not hard to understand why.

It’s been a few days now since our 6-0 opening day victory over West Brom, and as ever with Chelsea, there’s been plenty to talk about.

We start with the news that our French striker, Nicolas Anelka has been banned for 18 international matches, all but ending the 31 year old’s international career.

Anelka was sent home from the France World Cup squad for allegedly insulting coach Raymond Domenech during the half time break against Mexico.

France captain Patrice Evra was also banned for five matches for leading a training ground revolt over Domenech’s decision to send Anelka home.  As well as Anelka and Evra, the French Football Federation also banned Franck Ribery for three games, Jeremy Toulalan for one, with Eric Abidal escaping any punishment for his part in the boycott.

We at TheChels.net feel that although this punishment seems extraordinarily harsh, the upside for Chelsea is that the player will no longer be travelling away during the international breaks, meaning he should be fresher for our matches. Don’t worry Nico, we still love you even if the FFF don’t.

In other news, Brazilian wonderkid Neymar, reported to be the subject of Chelsea’s interest, has been in the press for a number of reasons, not least with Santos shouting loudly to anyone that will listen that we’ve been a naughty club and have tried to ‘tap up’ their player, an accusation club Chairman Bruce Buck strongly denies.

“There was no tapping up from Chelsea and I want to be clear on that.” Buck said to talkSPORT. “We are looking at several young Brazilian players and he is one of the players we have been looking at. Whether he becomes a Chelsea player at some point, who knows?”

“We are still looking at some things, whether they happen or not I don’t know. Carlo is happy and confident with the squad we have. If there is another player or two – great, if not we’re fine with what we have.”

After the indignations of the Ashley Cole affair and to a lesser extent, Gael Kakuta, for which we were exonerated of any wrong doing, and with the fact that Buck, a lawyer, is reportedly involved in the negotiations with the Brazilian club, we feel that the noises from Santos are nothing more than trying to extract more money to sanction the deal, reniscant of Jean-Michel Aulas’s tactics some years back during the Essien transfer saga.

With the media latching onto the ‘naughty Chelsea’ angle, Fleet Street editors have had their reporters ringing around anyone with the most tenuous link to Neymar to get their quotes, and in some cases (yes Daily Mail, we mean you) not bother with them at all, as in the case of Robinho and Pele, who they claim have advised Neymar to avoid Chelsea, without any comment from either stating as such.

As with everything the mainstream media writes, we’ll take it with a very large pinch of salt, and would advise Neymar of only one thing, a piece of advice from the mouth of an ex manager of ours ‘Big’ Phil Scolari; “Listen to what Pele says, and then do the opposite.” Wise words indeed.

Finally we take a look at another Brazilian, one already now settled into his daily routine at Cobham; Ramires, with news that the midfielder has elected to wear the number 7 shirt. Now we Chelsea supporters know the problems this shirt has had in the past, only too well.

With a list of players including; Adrian Mutu, Winston Bogarde, Andrei Shevchenko, Ricardo Quaresma as players who’ve, shall we say, not performed as expected, and also players such as Bjarne Goldbaek and Bernard Lambourde who weren’t the greatest players we had on the pitch.

In fact we have to go as far back as John Spencer to find a player who performed to a level expected, playing regularly, making chances and scoring goals (who will ever forget the solo effort against Austria Vienna?), but Spencer last played for us 1997, meaning the number seven shirt has had a less than illustrious history for nearly 13 years.

We hope that Ramires is the one to break the curse of the Chelsea No 7, and finally return a number so often synonymous with great players, back to it’s rightful place at Stamford Bridge.

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Chelsea FC today announced that they have completed the signing of Ramires from Benfica, for a fee believed to be around £16.3 million.

The initial hold up to the deal was due to the third party ownership of Ramires contract, held by one Kia Joorabchian, and understood to be 50% of the value of any sell on clause.

Joorabchian had played a part in bringing the Brazilian to Benfica, and with ownership regulations less stringent in the Portuguese league this wasn’t a problem. However after the West Ham and Carlos Tevez affair, rules were put in place to ensure Premiership clubs owned 100% of their player contracts.

This was not the final hurdle to clear though, with a work permit far but guaranteed due to the ruling on Non-EU players, stating that they must have completed a certain percentage of international matches for their home country.

As we told you on Monday, this was expected and so we knew an appeal would have to be lodged and heard, before any transfer could complete. With Ramires in action for Brazil on Wednesday night, Thursday was the earliest it could happen.

We broke the news last night that the work permit had been granted, and the deal would complete today. As expected, Ramires is now officially a Chelsea player.

So what are we getting then? With the loss of Ballack, Cole, Deco, Belletti and others our mid-field is looking a bit lighter than normal, but in Ramires we are getting a hell of a player. Born Ramires Santos do Nascimento, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, the 23 year old can play either centrally or on the right hand side.

Much talk has been of how he is a defensive midfielder and will replace Mikel, but he’s not. Ramires is a box to box midfielder, much in the mould of our own Michael Essien. He is is quick, intelligent, and can hold up the ball well or move it quickly both short and long distances.

He was pivotal to the Brazil team at the World Cup and was notable by his absence, as Brazil lost to Holland 2-1, with then Brazil boss Dunga citing the lack of Ramires presence in the midfield as a determining factor.

Speaking today Ramires said; “Every player in the world would love to play for Chelsea and it’s a great opportunity that was given to me, I will give my best to repay this chance, and I am very happy.”

Carlo Ancelotti added; “He is a fantastic player, a fantastic midfielder, he is very young and will be the future of the Brazilian national team, and I hope he will be the future of Chelsea.”

So do we Carlo, so do we. Ramires, welcome to Chelsea.

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News reaches us that Ramires has today been granted a work permit, and the £18 million deal to bring the Brazilian international to Chelsea should be concluded before the weekend.

Chelsea have trailed Ramires throughout the close season and once Benfica agreed a fee to sell him to Chelsea, only a work permit stood in the way as Ramires didn’t automatically qualify for one.

With the work permit now reportedly granted, the deal is now a formality. The club can focus on it’s other targets, reported to be Benfica defender David Luiz, and Santos starlet, Neymar.

We’ll bring you more as soon as we have it.

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So we kick off with the news that Peter Kenyon has finally left Chelsea, coming less than a year after he stepped down from the position of Chief Executive.

With Ron Gourlay now the full time CEO, Kenyon was retained in a non-executive advisory role and it was he who called time on his involvement with the club, in order to focus on other business interests.

Chairman Bruce Buck spoke of Kenyon’s time at Chelsea; ‘Peter presided over the club during a time of great success and unprecedented commercial growth, and subsequently, as non-executive director he was effective in representing Chelsea FC in our dialogue with world football bodies.

Buck added; ‘I’d like to thank Peter for everything he’s done for this football club and everyone here wishes him well for the future. He’ll always be welcome back at Chelsea.’

Kenyon was largely derided amongst Chelsea supporters, yet we feel the man did a good job during his time at Stamford Bridge, introducing a more professional business dynamic to the club as well as many supporter initiatives such as the Fans Forum too. We at TheChels.org wish Peter Kenyon all the best.

In other news, the longest running ‘will he, won’t he’ transfer saga of the summer appears to have reached the final stage with news that Brazilian international Ramires has been refused a work permit. Before you all punch your monitors and shout ‘conspiracy’, this was largely expected.

A work permit is only granted immediately if a player is picked for 75% of recent internationals, he doesn’t qualify because of his relative lack of appearances for Brazil. Chelsea have appealed, using the ‘exceptional talent’ clause that United have used in the past. The hearing is on Thursday, as Ramires is due to play for Brazil on Wednesday.

Finally we finish with the Ashley Cole to Madrid rumours, now that both Ancelotti and Mourinho have said he’s staying, let’s hope the media have finished with this bore of a story too.

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It looks as if Deco has made his last appearance in a Chelsea shirt with news of a transfer to Fluminense all but completed.

The Brazilian club announced on their official website the 32 year old Portuguese international will sign a two year deal and be officially unveiled on Monday.

Deco had earlier commented to the Brazilian media that; “Chelsea have chosen not to speak to the press until the end of negotiations. All I am waiting on is a fax to close the deal with Fluminense.”

Deco joined from Barcelona in the summer of 2008 and leaves having won two FA Cups and one Premier League title. Whilst never hitting the heights of his Barcelona days due mainly to injury, we thank him for his contribution and wish him well.

So as one leaves, another looks set to replace him with only a medical and contract to sign after a fee of around £17million was finally agreed with Benfica for Brazilian international, Ramires.

It’s understood that the primary hold up on the deal was the amount due to the third party owners of Ramires, namely Kia Joorabchian, who helped deliver Ramires to Benfica in the first place. With strict Premiership rules on third party ownership, it was essential that this side of the deal was in order with Chelsea owning 100% of the players’ contract.

The deal is still subject to a medical and conditional on Ramires being granted a work permit, which is far from guaranteed as he as yet doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, so an appeal may well be necessary which could delay the deal further.

In Ramires we will be getting an immense player, but we’ll not jump the gun just yet, and will give you the full run down once we see him posing for the obligatory shirt pictures.

In other news, the Ashley Cole to Madrid stories persist with Carlo having to repeat almost daily that he’s going nowhere, as is another player thought to be their chief bargaining chip in the now injured Kaka.

According to the Spanish Sport, Kaka had been given the green light by Real Madrid to leave the club, they claim that Ancelotti met with Kaka and had persuaded him to move to Stamford Bridge, with Roman ready to fund a Premiership record transfer.

With the injury and subsequent operation putting Kaka out for months, the deal fell through.

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