Forward for rent. Expensive

Andrey Shevchenko may be sent on loan

Chelsea forward Andrei Shevchenko may return to Milan. The Ukrainian striker still did not find himself in Roman Abramovich’s club, and it is possible that he will leave England this winter. It is unlikely that there will be a club that is ready to buy a 30-year-old football player from Chelsea. But it is possible that Milan will take their former star on loan until the end of the season.

Rumors about a possible deal in England and Italy have been circulating for a long time and are skillfully fueled by the participants in the process themselves. For example, the owner of Milan, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, recently stated that Shevchenko himself told him about his desire to return. The Ukrainian had to carefully refute the words of his former boss. As Shevchenko himself explained, he actually spoke with Berlusconi on the phone. He jokingly told him something like: “What are you supposed to do in this England, come back to us.” Andrey also jokingly replied that he didn’t mind, but he had a contract.

So, after exchanging a couple of polite phrases, the football player and the owner of the club generated a lot of conversations. But it is unlikely that they would have appeared if Shevchenko had everything in order in England. The Ukrainian, acquired for £30 million, became Chelsea's transfer record in the entire history of the club. If a forward is bought for that kind of money, then he should score, and score a lot. But now Shevchenko has only three goals to his name, and this despite the fact that he appears in the starting lineup over and over again. Blues coach Jose Mourinho once admitted that he would play Shevchenko until he started scoring.

Andrey is in no hurry to justify the money invested in him, but still the club diligently supports the only football player with whom Roman Abramovich can speak Russian and whose wife is friends with the wife of the club owner. The day before yesterday, even Peter Kenyon found kind words about the Ukrainian. “We have been watching Shevchenko for more than one year. We decided that he is exactly the player who can strengthen us,” said the Chelsea executive director.

The next day, Shevchenko was again included in the main squad for the 15th round match against Bolton. And this time he looked better than usual, being involved in the only goal scored. The Blues had a hard time in this match. The draw with Manchester United seemed to have taken too much of their energy, and Jose Mourinho's side managed to win only thanks to Ballack's goal from a corner in the last minute of the first half. This corner was earned by Shevchenko, who immediately received praise from Mourinho. “Sheva played a good match and there was a noticeable improvement in his game,” said the Chelsea coach. - Speed, movement, sharp passes - everything was good. He knows that I will support him to the maximum. I'm not a big fan of statistics, but I was told that when Thierry Henry swapped Juventus for Arsenal, he only scored one goal in 12 matches. It is difficult to adjust when moving from Italian football to English, despite the fact that we play according to the same system as Sheva in Milan.

I wonder what Mourinho would say if his team failed to crack Bolton's defence. After all, Chelsea's main rival for the championship, Manchester United, was more convincing, defeating Everton 3:0. But now the Portuguese coach of the Blues is calm. “United have very difficult matches in the second round. They will play away against Arsenal, Liverpool and us. It's not that hard for us to get back to the top. United are a good team. However, they should be nervous because they are only three points ahead,” Mourinho was confident of a bright future.

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Results of the 15th round matches. Manchester United - Everton - 3:0, Liverpool - Portsmouth - 0:0, Bolton - Chelsea - 0:1, Fulham - Arsenal "- 2:1, Aston Villa - Manchester City - 1:3, Watford - Sheffield United - 0:1.

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English Championship I V N P M O

1. Manchester United	15	12	2	1	33--7	38
2. Chelsea	15	11	2	2	25--8	35
3. Portsmouth	15	7	3	5	19--12	24
4. Bolton	15	7	3	5	15--14	24
5. Aston Villa	15	5	8	2	17--13	23
6. Arsenal	14	6	4	4	22--12	22
7. Liverpool	15	6	4	5	15--15	22
8. "Reading"	14	7	1	6	16--18	22
9. Everton	15	5	6	4	18--15	21
10. Fulham	15	5	5	5	16--21	20
11. Tottenham	14	5	4	5	13--16	19
12. Manchester City	15	5	4	6	13--17	19
13. Wigan	13	5	3	5	17--16	18
14. Middlesbrough	14	4	4	6	11--17	16
15. West Ham	14	4	2	8	10--16	14
16. Blackburn	13	3	4	6	11--17	13
17. Newcastle	14	3	4	7	9--15	13
18. Sheffield United	15	3	4	8	9--19	13
19. Watford	14	1	6	7	10--20	9
20. Charlton	14	2	3	9	10--21	9

Andrey VDOVIN