Chelsea secure Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow for £18m
By Dominic Fifield
Yuri Zhirkov made a good impression for Russia
in Euro 2008. Photograph: Empics
Yuri Zhirkov is due in London on Wednesday to complete an
?18m move to Chelsea from CSKA Moscow in what the club hope will prove
to be the first eye-catching signing in a busy period of transfer activity
in and out of Stamford Bridge.
Zhirkov was recommended to Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's owner, by Guus
Hiddink, the interim manager for the final three months of last season,
but will effectively become Carlo Ancelotti's first signing after the
Premier League club deflected interest from Barcelona, to secure the 25-year-old
Russian.
He will be followed by the Middlesbrough goalkeeper Ross Turnbull and
Manchester City's Daniel Sturridge, though a tribunal will need to set
the fee for the young striker after the clubs failed to compromise over
the compensation due.
Chelsea have moved impressively to secure Zhirkov, a player whose performances
en route to the final at Euro 2008 caught the eye and who can operate
at left-back, where they were short of options behind Ashley Cole, and
on the left of midfield. He is due to sign a four-year contract and will
meet his new team-mates at pre-season training on Monday.
Joe Cole, who will compete for a berth on the left of midfield with Zhirkov
and Florent Malouda, has spent the summer largely at the club's Cobham
base - a brief honeymoon aside - as he steps up his rehabilitation from
the knee injury sustained in January. He ruptured a cruciate ligament
but the player is hopeful he will be fit enough to take part in the club's
pre-season tour of the US, which starts in three weeks.
Cole is expected to open talks on a new contract - he has a year to run
on his deal - and he should be joined by Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba
in signing new terms. The Ivorian's appeal against the six-match ban imposed
upon him by Uefa, together with the four-match sanction received by Jose
Bosingwa, was submitted to European football's governing body today. The
club released a statement claiming the punishments, which included a fine
of £85,000 for failing to control their players and for the behaviour
of their supporters following their Champions League elimination to Barcelona
last month, was "unnecessarily harsh given the circumstances".
"We would reiterate that the players and the club are acutely aware
of our responsibilities towards setting a good example as role models
and upholding the values of the game," confirmed a spokesman. "That
is why honest and sincere apologies were made swiftly after these regrettable
incidents occurred."
