Hiddink’s Here And He’s Bringing The Russians
Chelsea have been rumoured to be keen on Yuri Zhirkov already this year and the arrival of Guus Hiddink appears to have re-ignited this rumour.
According to the press, Hiddink – who, let’s remember, is only a temporary fixture at Chelsea (what manager isn’t anyway?!) – has told the club to make the Russian winger a priority signing in the summer.
We apparently took a look at the versatile left winger, who can also cover at left-back, last month and despite competition from Barcelona for the 25 year old, are confident Abramovich being a mate of CSKA’s Yevgeni Giner could swing it for us.
After Euro 2008, Hiddink, who is said to regard Zhirkov as one of the world’s best left wingers claimed “Zhirkov plays very modern game. He’s capable of covering all the left side of the pitch alone. A player can only do this if he has brilliant technical skills and physical condition. He’s top class footballer.”
So, on the strength of that statement, we’re apparently after him.
That’s not all though because CSKA Moscow’s Alan Dzagoev has also been linked to us. Although still only 18 years old, the Russian midfielder has already been capped twice by Hiddink, so obviously our temporary manager would want him at Chelsea. And as luck would have it, the press suggest we’ve got an agreement with CSKA to bring him to Chelsea before his 21st birthday.
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They’ve got it all figured out eh?
Weird, sounds like Wayne Bridge.
Sacking Scolari and bringing in a part-time replacement (no matter how good he is) has to be a mistake. Even if Hiddink wins on Saturday and brings the club some silverware, who is thinking about building for next season? Certainly not the person who will be in charge, who’ll be lumbered with some Russians he never wanted in the first place.
What do you think? I would love to hear what you have to say at View from the Terraces, where I blogged on the Hiddink debacle yesterday.
Cheers,
Charlie
Charlie - Scolari was hardly a manager who would’ve been thinking long term either. He only signed a deal for a couple of years to start with. And these two players might not figure in our next managers plans but then let’s hope whoever it is would have enough balls to say so if that’s the case.