Mourinho Hits Out At Ballack And Sheva

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has warned Andrei Shevchenko and Michael Ballack that they are not the superstars of the club and they have to work as hard as everybody else.


From the moment Andrei Shevchenko and Michael Ballack arrived at Chelsea, it seemed as though there was tension between the players and manager Jose Mourinho.

A lot was made of the opinion that Shevchenko was very much owner Roman Abramovich’s buy. Ballack on the other hand burnt bridges when he reportedly underwent surgery in April before the Champions League semi-final and FA Cup final without Chelsea’s say so.

The relationship between the players and the manager seems to have deteriorated over the past weeks, Ballack reportedly off to Madrid in January and Shevchenko public in his annoyance of not getting picked for the first team.

Mourinho has revealed that the two of them need to book up their ideas and start performing if they are to stand a chance of being picked, adding that no the deserve no special treatment.

"Shevchenko and Ballack have to give more because their status is not superior to that of the others," Mourinho told The Sun.


"Each is a champion," he added. "They have quality, status and fame. They're rich and have already won a lot of trophies. All that is an undeniable fact.


"But it's one thing their being the centre surrounded by 20 nobodies, and it's something else these two players arriving at a club where the others are already champions, famous and rich.


"We were prepared to receive players such as Shevchenko or Ballack because they are of the same dimension as those already playing at Chelsea," continued Mourinho.


"Lampard, Terry, Drogba are equal to these two.


"But you can't build anything if you have to have someone special at its centre. When you have a group, everyone has to be equal to achieve the end we all want."

Goal.comUK

Both excellent players. If we get them for 'bout 60-70% of their price, I'd say YES

Yes to Sheva but apart from his Leverkusen days I never saw what everyone else did in Ballack 

Yes to Sheva

but apart from his Leverkusen days I never saw what everyone else did in Ballack 

No thanks to both of them

I'd laugh at the thought of Ballack playing for Fulham, but Milan!?

Aren't u the same person who think Iaquinta is a player for Milan

Or is it that he is German

I don't like Ballack because he's a sell-out two times over. He WAS good at Leverkusen (though a bit more thuggish than he needed to be), but then he went for the $$$$$ and transferred to Bayern. Then he went for more $$$$$ with his move to Chelsea.

I have nothing against Germans either. 

With Ballack, I just find him horribly average, he isn't so quick, doesn't tackle well, he has an okay shot, I dunno.. There's just nothing about him that makes me think he's any good, just average. He should be linked with a team like Milan in my opinion.

But it's one thing their being the centre surrounded by 20 nobodies, and it's something else these two players arriving at a club where the others are already champions, famous and rich.

did he just.. wtf did he meant by 20 nobodies..

Milan to snatch Ballack?

Milan are reportedly ready to snatch Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack away from Stamford Bridge. Although the Premiership side claim that the German captain is not for sale, it is well known that he is unhappy with his position at the club and would be tempted to move back to Europe. Should the London outfit put the midfield ace up for sale other clubs like Inter, Real Madrid and Juventus are also believed to be keen to lure him away from England.

Madrid And Milan Both Interested In Ballack

The paths of Real Madrid and Milan might cross each other again over Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack.

The former Bayern Munich leader has just been through a less than successful first season in the Premier League with Chelsea.

A bad injury to his right ankle (with a subsequent operation on 26 April) was the catalyst to a series of problems that required two more operations, the second of which took place only recently.

That aside, the first Premiership season of Ballack, who came to Chelsea around the same time as Andriy Shevchenko, was certainly not a positive one.

As coach Jose Mourinho failed to achieve the club's main objectives, Roman Abramovich was very disappointed and allegedly saw Ballack as one of the players who were no longer part of the club's plans.

This situation was being monitored by Real Madrid, who have been following the player for several years.

But Chelsea's request, 10 million euros, was considered excessive, which is understandable considering he had arrived at the Blues on a free transfer.

While the strong midfielder's complete recovery is still some time away, Real Madrid have already made a new proposal. It seems, however, that they are going to find Milan on their way once again.

That is the news revealed by English daily "The People" which suggested that the Rossoneri are ready to offer the player a contract worth 4,5 million euros a season.

No no no, leave our midfield alone, it's fine. It's not as if he can be a player for the future either.

Next summer I'd like to see a world class centre back, a world class forward and a potentially world class keeper - but these kind of players are hard to find. Does anyone have a list of the players who are out of contract in the summer?

Nononononononono! Keep him (and his scary wife) in London! He kissed the blue jersey, he can stay there.

Saying anything remotely negative about the great one is punishable by death!

Mike, did you mean Milan players out of contract as of June 2008 or worldwide players who are out of contract in June 2008?

I would love to see that, but unfortunately, even as European Champions we couldn't get one of those things. Hopefully next summer will be much better..

The reason why we didn't buy anyone is exactly because we won the European Cup! Had we failed to win anything again, we would be talking about a different Milan team right now...

I partly agree with the 'you don't fix something that ain't broken' policy; but if you don't take care of that certain something, it will broke down some day...

but after almost 2 years without many big transfers I'll embrace even Michael Ballack..

I thought Ronaldo, Oddo, and Emerson were big transfers .. They have all performed above expectation, the latter needs time in a about a week or so .. Then we have Pato, who is a very exciting talent who will see more time on the pitch (considering Gila ) ... Overall, I'd say we did well .. It's true our midfield is thin, but that is the only way to give Gourcuff some time on the field. I mean we can't have everything, if u know what I mean