Expect a megayacht-load of new faces rocking up at the Bridge…
The Court of Arbitration for Sport have temporarily suspended Chelsea’s FIFA-imposed two-window transfer ban, leaving the Blues free to sign players until a final decision has been made over their appeal:
The FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed, inter alia, a restriction of four months’ ineligibility on Mr Gael Kakuta, and Chelsea Football Club Ltd was banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the next two complete, consecutive registration periods. Such sanctions are now stayed until the CAS renders its final decision in this matter.
Oasis star makes Chelsea owner aware of City’s new found wealth
The Spoiler was lucky enough to see Bonio and The Hedge on top form at Wembley Stadium this weekend, but we were quite offended not to be invited to the U2 after party at Home House.
Guests at the swanky Marylebone venue included excitable Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, legendary U2 producer Brian Eno, Zep God Jimmy Page, arty type Damien Hirst, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and Oasis chief Noel Gallagher.
Mr Gallagher has never been one to keep his love of Manchester City under wraps, and it appears that his inebriated state helped him make an impression on a certain oligarch:
The highlight of Friday night’s tear-up was watching Noel reminding Red Rom that he didn’t have as much money as Manchester City.
Bayern general manager plays down Blues’ bid for Frenchman
Earlier this week, the nation’s least accurate favourite tabloid claimed that Roman Abramovich would personally fly to Germany to thrash out a £40m deal for Real Madrid target Franck Ribery.
For that kind of money, the Blues would probably expect all of the Frenchman’s body parts, but Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has insisted that this isn’t the case:
“What does he expect for [£40m] - Ribery’s right leg? Seriously, we stopped talking about Franck leaving a month ago because it isn’t going to happen.”
Once again, Bayern are adamant that they will not relinquish their grip on the Bundesliga’s biggest star, even though he has personally expressed his desire to play for Madrid.
Ribery was not fit for the start of the Bundesliga season, but Bayern coach Louis van Gaal allowed him to train with the France team this week as a means of improving his recent grumpy attitude. Despite the Dutchman’s claims that he would not be fit to face the Faroe Islands last night, he did play in the second half.
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The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Franck Ribery to Chelsea
Despite expressing his desire to join old pal Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, Roman Abramovich will personally fly to Deutschland to thrash out a £40m deal for the handsome winger, say The Sun. The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has made it very clear that no amount of money will persuade the club to part with the Bundesliga’s best player, and the man himself has always said he would prefer to play somewhere sunny. Somewhere like Spain, not Munich or London. We can’t see Ribery going anywhere this season, but next year he will almost certainly leave Germany.
Joleon Lescott to Manchester City The Daily Mail believe the England defender will finally make his dragged-out move to Eastlands in the next 36 hours, as Everton have begrudgingly accepted a £20m plus add-ons deal.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: It’s clear that Lescott is keen to move on,
The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Karim Benzema to Real Madrid
This whole Benzema thing is getting messy. His Lyon team-mate Miralem Pjanic claims he will join Manchester Utd, and Arsene Wenger is said to have expressed an interest, but according to this morning’s Marca, the young Frenchman will be anounced as a Real Madrid player in a matter of hours.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Madrid’s chief director Jorge Valdano has just ramped up the speculation by saying:
“We do not discard the possibility that in the next few hours, something could happen.”
If Lyon accept Los Blancos’ €35m-ish bid, this one is on.
Alexandre Pato to Chelsea
The Milan party line is that The Duck ain’t going nowhere, but according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of Roman Abramovich’s henchmen was spotted at Milan HQ yesterday. An improved bid of €60m could be on the cards.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: It’s quite possible that the
Just over a year ago, we showed you a sneaky spy shot of the M/Y Eclipse, the largest privately owned yacht in the world. Since then, its owner Roman Abramovich has lost around 40 per cent of his wealth and has been forced to cut back on staff expenses for his current fleet of superyachts, but the Chelsea owner is still expected to take delivery of the vessel in 2010.
Here’s a gentle reminder of some of the ridiculous features of the 550ft boat:
* A small hospital staffed by a private medical team
* Bulletproof glass, underwater cameras and a missile detection system
* Anti-bugging equipment windows have flash sensors to warn of paparazzi photographers
* Six guest suites and five VIP suites, all with bathrooms and balconies
* A large outdoor swimming pool for WAG Daria Zhukova to splash around in
* A gym, sauna, steam room, spa and several hot tubs.
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