Ancelotti: Continuity Away From Home

Carlo Ancelotti may have started the season with a 6-0 win but he's still looking at areas for improvement on the last campaign.

Last season was a phenomenal year for the Blues, ending in the Double, but Ancelotti remembers early troubles away from home, beginning with a 3-1 loss last September against Wigan, our next opponents.

A 2-1 defeat at Villa Park soon followed, which is why Ancelotti is keen to avert any troubles outside of Stamford Bridge with the focused football that ended our last campaign.

'They didn't start well [against Wigan last year],' explained the Italian, 'but we have to learn to play against teams with strong motivation.

'Our aim is to show continuity away from home. Although we did very well last season, away we had some problems. We need to change the direction of this.'

Ancelotti knows just how important it is to start the season with a victory, explaining how the beginning of last year's campaign was instrumental in winning the League.

'Last season we started well and won the first six games - that was key to winning the title.

'We want the same this season and we have started very well. Now we need to look to the next game.

'It's good to think game-by-game. Every game could be difficult, so it is important to stay focused.

'These players can certainly repeat the same season [as last year] but our aim is to do better if it's possible.

'We have started better than last year, showing more confidence, and I think we can do better.'

And with side boasting the likes of Drobga, whose hat-trick proved he's ready to carry on where he left off last year, Chelsea fans world-wide will be truly excited by the start to 2010/11.

'I have been happy to work with a lot of strikers, but it is difficult to find one with the continuity of Drogba,' added Ancelotti.

'Drogba is fit, he does not have problems physically, he is professional, so he can play for a lot of years but the most important thing is the mentality, to be happy to train, to be happy to play - Didier is that kind of man.'

Chelsea Target Decides On Move Today

Chelsea target Neymar will decide today whether to complete a £24m move to the Premier League.

The Brazilian wonderkid was having talks with his family last night over his future after Chelsea made an improved offer.

Santos are holding out for the £29.6m buy-out clause in his contract and have threatened to report Chelsea to Fifa for “tapping up” the teenager.

But Neymar’s agent Wagner Ribiero said: “Neymar is meeting with his family, and they will decide what they want. Then we will have a conversation with Santos. Everything will be decided this week.”

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has strongly denied Santos’ claims, saying: “There was no tapping up from Chelsea, and I want to be clear on that.

“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?”

Bayern Munich Eye Chelsea Starlet Gael Kakuta

Bayern Munich are set to steal Chelsea youngster Gael Kakuta with the offer of a regular first team spot, according to The People.

Kakuta, 19, rose to fame last season after his transfer from Lens came under the scrutiny of FIFA.

The starlet has begun to make waves on the pitch now and was the stand out player in France's European Championship under-19s side.

This form has alerted Bayern to the attacker's talent and they are prepared to offer him a way out of the Blues' reserves.

After making just one Premier League appearance last term, Kakuta is understood to be ready to test manager Carlo Ancelotti's resolve to keep him.

Chelsea On The Verge Of Making £4.5m Offer To Stoke City For Asmir Begovic

Chelsea are believed to be readying an offer of £4.5 million for the services of Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The shaky form shown by Petr Cech's understudies, Henrique Hilario and Ross Turnbull, was previously reported to have been the cause behind the Blues' hunt for another shot-stopper.

In the meantime, the Potters boss Tony Pulis recently admitted that there had been enquiries from west London, but insisted that the 23-year-old is not for sale.

However, the Daily Mail claims that Roman Abramovich's outfit will put Stoke's resolve to the test by proposing a £4.5m offer in exchange of the services of the former Portsmouth 'keeper.

Begovic joined his current club in the winter transfer window last season, but recent reports point towards the player making a move if he is not the first-choice shot-stopper at the Britannia Stadium.

Real Madrid Ready To Launch £10 Million Swoop For Chelsea Striker Didier Drogba

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is planning to launch an audacious bid to be reunited with Didier Drogba by offering £10 million for the Chelsea frontman.

The Portuguese tactician returned to his former club last week to complete the £6.7 million capture of Ricardo Carvalho, and now - according to The Sunday People - he hopes to take the Ivorian captain to the Bernabeu.

However, Chelsea are unlikely to discuss a potential departure for last year's top scorer in the Premier League and will rebuff any move from the Spanish giants as they did with Ashley Cole earlier this summer.

Drogba, who has won three Premier League titles and three FA Cups since joining Chelsea six years ago, forged a close bond with Mourinho during their time together at Stamford Bridge and may be interested in a switch to Spain.

Mourinho will be hoping that the chance to link up with his former boss will prove too much of an attraction for the former Marseille man, and believes a £10 million bid will be enough to sway the Chelsea hierarchy to part company with their prolific striker.

Petr Cech Plays Down Talk Of Reunion With Jose Mourinho At Real Madrid

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has quashed rumours that he is on the verge of leaving Stamford Bridge to join Real Madrid.

Cech has been linked with a move to rejoin old boss Jose Mourinho at the Bernabeu as well as teaming up with Ricardo Carvalho who has already made the move.

Mourinho signed Portuguese defender Carvalho for £6.7 million having convinced him to come to Spain and the Real Madrid coach is rumoured to be attempting to persuade Chelsea’s number one to do the same.

However Cech has rejected claims that he has been in contact with Mourinho and also questioned whether Real need a goalkeeper to replace World Cup winner Iker Casillas.

"There are more of us here who were with Chelsea while [Jose] Mourinho was in charge. So the media could speculate about many players. You should never say never, but we have not spoken with Jose [Mourinho].” Cech told Pravo.

"If you take a look at Real's [Madrid] squad, you see that the goalkeeper's position is the only place where they have not had any reason to change anything."

Meanwhile Chelsea has been quiet in this summers transfer window with Yossi Benayoun and Ramires the two notable signings.

Midfielders Joe Cole and Michael Ballack have also left the club but Cech is confident that more new faces could arrive before the end of the transfer window.

"It is normal that in such a big club like Chelsea someone comes in and someone leaves," argued the former Rennes keeper.

"There may be some more activity yet because the transfer window is still open. Still someone might arrive."

Chelsea PR Plan To Keep Real Madrid Target Ashley Cole At Stamford Bridge

Booed by England fans at Wembley and jeered by West Bromwich Albion supporters on his own patch, Ashley Cole's low opinion of England and it's people is unlikely to have changed during the past week.

This season promises to be Ashley Cole's most challenging to date, not that he already hasn't had a few.

Cole is certainly no stranger to the role of pantomime villain, he has been type cast ever since his defection from Arsenal to Chelsea, right through the public playing-out of his marriage break-up and up to his part in England's failure in South Africa.
Little wonder the chance of a reunion with Jose Mourinho at the Bernabeu holds plenty of appeal.

Despite Carlo Ancelotti's insistence that Cole is going nowhere, Mourinho has not given up hope of bringing the 29-year-old full-back to Real Madrid.

Chelsea are certainly willing to pull out the stops to ensure Cole will not be banging on his manager's door in the next fortnight demanding a move to the Spanish capital.

The plan, as Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck explained, is to help restore Cole's battered public image with a little profile lowering.

Buck said: 'I think Ashley is fine. He is great around the club, is polite and helpful. We're not involved in his private life but we support him to a certain extent if we can.

'You would be unhappy too if you got the treatment he is getting by the media. He doesn't like that but I don't think it will be any different if he was in Spain or Italy.

'He has just got to work a little bit, with our help, on improving his image. He is a great player and everyone loves to watch him play and we just look forward like that. We do [rally around him] at executive level, as do the other players and management. We will do the best we can.'

Quite how Chelsea intends to perform this radical image makeover remains to be seen. It will be certainly easier said than done with a player who was pictured with a bevy of scantily beauties on his recent holiday in Los Angeles and who headed straight to paparazzi infested haunt, China White, immediately upon returning from Chelsea's pre-season trip to Germany.

Persuading Cole that it might wise to opt for a quiet night in rather than a night at the latest West End celebrity haunt will, therefore, be no mean feat. But if Chelsea is to engineer a seismic shift in public opinion then their only hope is to ensure the column inches Cole occupies are at the back of newspapers rather than the front.

Ensuring Cole is not the player opposition fans love to hate will be a long drawn out affair and will require the full cooperation of the player himself. It may just transpire that Cole decides the easiest way to shed his bad-boy image is to up sticks to a country where he can leave the baggage in the departure lounge.

Until then expect the boo boys to be in good voice at every ground up and down the country, starting at Wigan's DW stadium this Saturday.

Asian Stars Back At The Academy

Winners of this year's Asian Soccer Star contest were at Cobham last week as they underwent their trials with the Chelsea Academy.

The three-day trials were incorporated into the Academy's Summer Camps, which act as a pre-season for the youngsters signed on in our younger age groups.

While none of the boys attending did quite enough to be signed on, it was good news for Under 9 winner Adam Aziz who has been invited back to be a part of our elite training centre program, where he can be closely monitored by Chelsea staff.

Kelan Patel, trialling with our Under 11s, told Chelsea TV how much he had enjoyed the experience.

'We had lots of tests, and it's fun but really hard sometimes, but the coach is really nice and helpful,' said the young midfielder. 'I learned there are better players out there. In my Sunday league there are good players but not as good. I thought this would be easier but there are loads of really good players.'

Chelsea's Academy project manager Darren Grace oversaw the trials, and was impressed by the lads.

'All of them have done okay, they trained on Tuesday, Wednesday was a games day so we had a series of games they took part in, and on Thursday it was another day of training, with lots of practices and drills they won't have been used to,' he explained. 'From what I have seen they have coped well and certainly haven't looked out of place.

'The standard here is extremely high, and it is getting tougher and tougher. The good thing about the Academy here at the minute is that the scouts are doing a fantastic job bringing in players from different backgrounds and cultures and the Search for an Asian Soccer Star is another scouting tool. All the lads were told we'd monitor them and that they should try and play at the highest level they can and to keep working hard. They all coped well and did themselves and their families proud!'

For 2010, we opened the contest up to six age groups, adding Under 8s, 9s and 10s to the Under 11s, 12s and 13s competition that took place in 2009. This, Grace explained, was to help us nurture potential players from an earlier age.

'We've had more age groups this year, we started younger because we felt if we could find them at a younger age we have more time to help them develop and grow an affinity with Chelsea Football Club and the way we do things,' he said. 'Then, if any of them are ultimately good enough to join the Academy it is better that they come in as early as possible.'