Werder Cool Ozil Exit Rumours

Werder Bremen has denied receiving any offers for Germany World Cup star Mesut Ozil.

The 21-year-old playmaker has been one of the standout performers in Germany's impressive march to the semi-finals in South Africa.

Spanish giants Barcelona and several Premier League clubs, including Chelsea and Manchester City, are reported to be interested in signing the former under-21 international.

However, manager Klaus Allofs has denied reports that the Bundesliga club have already started to fend off official interest from suitors.

"Mesut had appeared in the focus of clubs before the World Cup had kicked off," he said. “Now he is playing a fantastic World Cup campaign, this is definitely increasing interest.

"But when it comes down to concrete bids, nothing has been done. We want him to stay on and actually there is no news. There are no indications he does not want to see out his contract at our club."

Ozil has scored one goal in five World Cup appearances for Germany in South Africa.

Spanish Report: Chelsea To Launch Kaka Bid

Following Brazil's exit from the World Cup, Chelsea will renew their interest in Real Madrid midfielder Kaka.

Kaka struggled at Real Madrid last season following his £56-million switch from AC Milan last summer. A troublesome thigh injury limited Kaka’s chances and the feeling at the Bernabeu is that he has yet to begin to pay back the hefty fee paid for him.

Reportedly, Kaka does not fancy his chances of regular first team football under new Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, and the 28-year-old would apparently welcome a reunion with his former AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea. Under Ancelotti, Kaka enjoyed a highly successful spell at the San Siro, becoming one of the world's top players.

Spanish daily 'Sport' reports that Chelsea will make a move for the Brazilian, particularly as Stamford Bridge chief Roman Abramovich "has always had a fondness" for the player, having previously attempted to sign him during his AC Milan days.

Mourinho would reportedly not stand in the way of Kaka’s sale. Meanwhile, Bernabeu chief Florentino Perez would apparently welcome a bid for from a club like Chelsea who has the means to enable him to recoup some of the fee paid out for Kaka last summer.

Linesman Saddened By Lampard Error

The linesman at the centre of England's disallowed goal storm has admitted he was caught out by the speed of Frank Lampard's shot.

Uruguayan official Mauricio Espinosa failed to spot Lampard's effort had bounced over the line after crashing down off the underside of the bar during England's 4-1 last-16 defeat to Germany in Bloemfontein.

Had the goal been given, England would have drawn level at 2-2.

Fabio Capello is convinced his side could have then gone on to win the game.

It turned out to be the last game Espinosa was involved in as FIFA did not include him on their retained list for the last eight and beyond.

He told El Pais: "It was a very fast shot that I did not see properly, even though I was located in the right place.

"We didn't see a replay in the dressing room at half-time but you could sense what had happened.

"It was only when we saw the TV that we realized what happened.

"I feel quite sad about it because we had prepared for such a long time for the World Cup.

"It could have happened to anyone, unfortunately it was us. You just have to accept it. Life goes on."

Chelsea - More Players Released

Chelsea, today, announced the departure of 5 more players.

After last week's departures of Ballack, Belletti, Cole and Nana Ofori-Twumasi; Liam Bridcutt, Nikki Ahamed, Nicolas Heimann, Aldi Haxhia and Kenny Strickland have all left Cobham.

Goalkeepers Heimann and Haxhia have been rivals for the sub goalie jersey both at youth level and reserves. With Jan Sebek, Sam Walker and Rhys Taylor all securing more playing time, both will be hoping for more opportunities at their new clubs. So far only Heimann has signed on with Red Star Salzburg of Austria.

Ahamed, Strickland and especially Bridcutt have all experienced youth and reserve team playing time. Bridcutt also turned out for Watford, Yeovil and Stockport on loan. Their next destinations are currently unknown.

This news follows the signatures of 8 academy prospects for professional contracts. Over the next season they will be hoping for solid reserve team action as well as possible trips with the first squad. Loan moves will also be distinct possibilities as they continue to develop.

Roman Abramovich Heads To South Africa To Capture £50m Fernando Torres

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has flown to South Africa to try to secure the signing of Fernando Torres for a British record of £50 million.

The extraordinary fee still falls short of Liverpool's £70 million valuation of their prize asset in what is set to be a summer of turmoil at Anfield. Javier Mascherano is also understood to be adamant that he wants to leave and Steven Gerrard is still attracting very strong interest from Real Madrid.

Abramovich's presence here shows how seriously Chelsea are taking their pursuit of Torres, who is hoping to keep his place in the Spain side for Tuesday's semi-final in Durban against Germany despite a series of indifferent displays in the tournament.

Chelsea have long-coveted the striker and have spent months discussing the best strategy to sign him.

Their interest will, probably, be rivalled by Manchester City but the allure of playing Champions League football makes them the favourites to secure Torres who wants to remain in England should he leave Liverpool.

Barcelona is also interested but they are struggling to raise the funds while the 27 year-old is unsure he wants to return to Spain yet.

Despite a stream of denials by Torres's agents Bahía Internacional – including a statement yesterday by his agent Juan Antonio Martín – both Chelsea and City have been led to believe that he wants to leave this summer.

However because Chelsea are set to bid below the valuation anticipated by Liverpool, it may mean Torres will have to push for a move which could make things messy.

Torres laid down a marker in what is turning into a protracted exit strategy when he said he wanted Liverpool to recruit half a dozen high-calibre players this summer to avoid last season's disappointment.

But he has said he will speak to new manager Roy Hodgson before resolving his future.

Liverpool have already sold Yossi Benayoun to Chelsea for £5.5 million but the departure of Torres would represent a significant admission by the club that they are struggling to compete especially if Mascherano – who is wanted by Rafael Benítez at Inter Milan – also leaves.

Matters are, of course, complicated by Liverpool's limited finances and the attempts to sell the club by their American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Abramovich was in South Africa for the start of the World Cup but has now returned to show Torres and his representatives how serious his intent is.

He is hoping to meet with Torres' agents over the next few days. A source close to the deal said last night that the Chelsea owner was "pushing very hard" to complete the deal.

Chelsea Eyes Sami Khedira

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is leading the chase for Germany playmaker Sami Khedira.

The midfielder, 23, has emerged as one of the stars of the World Cup after replacing injured Michael Ballack in the German's side.

And Stuttgart boss Christian Gross is ready to sell his £12million-rated star now rather than lose him on a free when his contract expires next year.

Ancelotti sees Khedira as the perfect man to step into the Blues midfield after letting Ballack, Joe Cole and Deco go.

But he faces a battle with Alex Ferguson who wants Khedira as a replacement for 35-year-old Paul Scholes at Manchester United.

Former Spurs boss Gross admitted: "It would be very painful if Sami left on a free.

"If he has two more great World Cup games, all the big clubs will come for him."

Ancelotti: Chelsea Can Build England Team Of The Future

Carlo Ancelotti believes Chelsea’s Double winning season is the start of a dynasty at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues boss also aims to give Chelsea’s English academy players the chance to become the World Cup stars of the future by integrating them into his team following the club’s first FA Cup Youth win for 49 years back in May.

While Manchester City have already splashed out a staggering £60million on two players ahead of their shot at the title, Chelsea plan to follow the Sir Alex Ferguson route of blooding their home-grown stars alongside their experienced campaigners.

Creative midfielder Josh McEachran, who has been training once a week with the first-team squad, is in Ancelotti’s plans.

Wideman Billy Clifford is also thought to have a big future while 19-year-old Berkshire-born defender Sam Hutchinson is already in Ancelotti’s first-team squad.

The Chelsea boss said: “I was at the Final and it was very important for the Academy which is working well at the moment.

“We need them to have important moments like this because it was another fantastic success and this is another reason to say it was a fantastic season for Chelsea.

“We have some talented young players here that work every day with the first team in training and they are very close to stepping up to the squad on matchdays.

“This is our aim - to put more players from the Academy up into the first team in the future, so this success was very important for us.” Chelsea ended Manchester United’s run of three successive Premier League title wins with a stunning victory two months ago.

The Blues followed up the success by beating Portsmouth to the FA Cup.

While his Italian compatriot Fabio Capello has been derided for England’s struggle to score goals at the World Cup, Ancelotti’s

Chelsea smashed 102 goals - a Premier League record - last season.

Now the Stamford Bridge boss wants to maintain his domination of English football’s top prizes and insists he has the firepower to achieve it.

While Frank Lampard endured a disappointing World Cup with England and Florent Malouda’s France struggled, Ancelotti maintained both players will be key in his bid to retain the title.

Speaking to Chelsea’s official magazine, out now, he said: “We have to take time to think about next season, about the future because I think this could be the beginning of a fantastic cycle.

“We have a very good squad but I think we can improve our play and our confidence with these victories behind us.

“We scored over 100 goals this season because we have in this team a lot of players who can score goals, midfielders as well as attackers.

“Lampard has scored 27, Malouda 15, so for this season we are confident we can score a lot of goals every game.”

Ancelotti also believes Chelsea’s defeat in the Champions League to former boss Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan was actually a blessing in disguise in terms of their Premier League bid.

He went on: “We missed the Champions League. We were upset, but we were able to change our focus and after that we were more focused on the Premier League.

“I think that defeat helped us to stay focused on the League and improve our condition physically, because we did very well at the end of the season with a team of fit players until the last game.”

Ancelotti: Time For Work

Carlo Ancelotti has been discussing the training schedule for the next few weeks as he welcomes his players back in for pre-season training.

The last time we saw the manager he was atop a double-decker bus singing his heart out having just won the Barclays Premier League and FA Cup in his first season.

Now after a few weeks off it is back to work again as he aims to build on those successes, and although he is without his full complement of players for the commencement of pre-season preparations, the manager's mood is extremely positive.

'We started on Monday, last year we started at the same time and we need maybe five weeks to prepare the team, to do the best physical preparation,' the Italian explained. 'We will have the other players on July 22 and 26, but for the first games of pre-season they will not be involved.'

That means our first fixture with Crystal Palace on July 17 will see us without 11 first-teamers still on holiday, though coming into the group will be Yossi Benayoun, who joined up with the squad yesterday, as well as a number of youngsters who have either been enjoying loan spells away from Chelsea, or partaking in FA Youth Cup successes.

'It could be a little different this year, a little difficult because we don't have all the players to start the season but we can still do a good job,' Ancelotti said.

'Benayoun I think is a good player, we need to have a player with quality who can play in the midfield.

'He can play in every position in midfield and for this I think he will be a very good player for us for next season.'

It may be just over a month away, but like pre-season, the start of the new campaign will be here before we know it. Ancelotti will be sure to have his men ready.