Chelsea’s Under-18s continued their pre-season schedule with a keenly contested and engaging affair against Derby County which finished 1-1. Adie Viveash’s boys began their summer with a win over Colchester and followed it with a victory on tour in Austria, but suffered defeat against a very talented Nottingham Forest team in midweek. East Midlands opposition travelled to Cobham for the second time in a week and the Rams, much like…
Chelsea Sign Celtic Kid Feruz?
Reports breaking this evening suggest that Chelsea have finalised a deal this week for Celtic’s young forward Islam Feruz. The Somalian-born Scottish youth international hit the headlines two years ago when playing in the Sky Sports Victory Shield aged just 13 and has long since played above his age group at Celtic Park. Now, sources at Scotzine – with plenty of other talk to go with it – claim that…
Travels Without The Chels – The Veneto Part 2
Part 1 concluded with your humble narrator shivering on the Ferry back to Jesolo. Then to make matters worse I misjudged the bus stop and ended up having to get off at the one after Piazza Mazini, leaving me with a 15 minute walk back to the hotel. It hadn’t just been showers local to Venice, the whole of the Veneto appeared to be under water. A sign on a…
Torres & McEachran Strike To Seal Asia Trophy
Chelsea completed their tour of the far-east with a resounding victory over Aston Villa in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy. This was the second time that the Blues had lifted this trophy, after being the inaugural winners of the tournament back in 2003 under Claudio Ranieri. An early goal from the talented Josh McEachran inside the first minute of the game gave the Blues the lead, and the…
Reserves: Hampton & Richmond Borough 0-3 Chelsea
Chelsea’s Reserve team recorded their first win of pre-season with a 3-0 victory over Blue Square South outfit Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday afternoon. A brace from Adam Phillip followed Philipp Prosenik’s opener in what was an impressive display from Dermot Drummy’s boys. Following a 6-1 reverse at Crawley Town a fortnight ago, the group took in a week of training in Austria which culminated in a fixture against…
Romeu To Undergo Blues Medical
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas confirmed in his press conference this afternoon in Hong Kong that Spanish midfielder Oriol Romeu is set to undergo a medical with Blues medical staff after a deal was struck with Barcelona. Newly-appointed chief physician Paco Biosca has travelled to Colombia to put Romeu through a series of tests ahead of finalising his move to London. The player is currently with the Spanish team for the…
Getting Better As We Go
Chelsea began the quest for a second Premier League Asia Trophy by beating their local opponents Kitchee by 4-0 to set up the final against Aston Villa. Frank Lampard opened the scoring the again; then an own goal (again!) doubled the lead before goals from Didier Drogba and Daniel Sturridge rounded off another satisfying night for the Blues. The Premier League Asia trophy was one of the first tournaments that…
We Are Getting There…
Chelsea stepped up a gear in their preparations for the new season after a much improved second-half performance against Thailand All Stars meant the Blues eventually cruised to a 4-0 win. The first half display was again of tireless hard work, without much reward, but the introduction of fresh legs on the hour mark made the final thirty minutes look like a stroll in the park. Another jam-packed stadium was…
In The News: Transfer Madness, Modric & Fan Favouritism
With pre-season now under way, footballers have returned from their summer sojourns, managers are again in gainful employment, and journos are pumping out their usual ill informed rubbish. Well, part from those who used to work for the News of the World at least. So we find ourselves raking over the news wires looking to see what changes may be afoot in the coming weeks as Villas Boas starts to imprint his…
What To Make Of Rajkovic
One of the more eye-catching names on the fringes of Chelsea’s squad this pre-season is that of Serbian defender Slobodan Rajkovic. A Blues player since 2005, he has thus far been precluded from playing in England because he doesn’t meet work permit criteria. Aside from a debut against the Chinese Under-23 team for the Reserves at Brentford shortly after signing, sightings of him on domestic shores have been limited. Instead,…