Chelsea Express : Out of the Blue for Mata

Breaking : Petr Cech out for 3 weeks

Keeper Cech has suffered a knee ligament injury and has been ruled out for three weeks. He had fallen awkwardly to ground in training according to Villas-Boas on Thursday. Cech faces a race to be fit for a trip to Old Trafford on September 18th.

Thibaut Courtois is on loan in Madrid and the deal isn’t expected to be terminated.Hilario and Ross Turnbull are their reserve keepers, but both are not the safest men between the sticks. Hilario has had few highlights at Chelsea including a clean sheet vs Barcelona in 2007. Young Turnbull arrived on a free from Middlesbrough last season and featured in the league for a short stint under Ancelotti.

Chelsea had a £22 Million transfer bid for Valencia’s Juan Mata rejected last night,after a surprise bid by AVB and Co.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs were tracking 23 year old Juan Mata all year, but Chelsea are the latest club to test Valencia’s will to hold on to him. Mata is a full Spanish International and represented them in the Euro U-21s in June. With Modric’s affair fizzling out with no immediate gain for Chelsea, they’re desperate to sign a play-maker before the window end.

Porto duo Alvaro Pereira and Joao Moutinho high on the list for Villas-Boas, Raul Meireles appears on radar

Portugal has been Chelsea’s breeding ground for all staff, so it’s no surprise a trio of them are linked to a move to Chelsea. Joao Moutinho looks the closest to move with AVB having unpresidented success with him last year after he moved from Sporting Lisbon to Porto. Porto have signed Steven Defour from Anderlecht,further signalling that they’re expecting a Chelsea bid.

Meireles will be hoping to L'ink' up with AVB again

Meireles previously worked with AVB at Porto and currently hisLiverpool place is under threat from Adam and Henderson. Meireles didn’t start at the weekend vs Sunderland sparking rumours about Chelsea interest. Meireles scored in Torres’s debut for Chelsea against Liverpool and followed it up with four goals in four for Liverpool in January making him a focal point in their 5 man midfield.

Harry Redknapp speaks on Modric,”We won’t sell him on deadline day”

Redknapp said that he needs to clear the air about Modric’s status at Spurs saying that if he is sold,he needs to bring in about 4 players to fill the gap.Chelsea have offered Modric double the wages and Champions League football,something that Modric admis to be tempted.

“We’ve got two options with Luka. Either we keep a fantastic player or we sell him, get the money and bring in four players and have a better team.

Mikel ransom demand ‘substantial’

John Obi Mikel’s kidnapped father is confirmed to be alive and well with a ransom being named by the kidnappers. Mikel on arrival in Nigeria issued a plea for his father’s release. Mikel is though expected to feature against West Brom on Satuday with him returning to England on Friday.

Snippets

Oriol Romeu has been handed the No 6 shirt for Chelsea.He arrived from Barcelona earlier to fill the void created by the injured Essien in midfield.

Romelu Lukaku will be in the squad for game against West Brom after his work permit was approved. His recruitment cost£20 million from Anderlecht.

The La Liga may be postponed for up to a month,creating a window for Keeper Courtois to return to Chelsea..The players in Spain are on strike demanding unpaid wages