Today it seems as though Chelsea could look to Dump Sheva for David Villa of Valencia.

It should have been the deal of the century but right now it looks as though the highest paid player in the EPL could be at the end of the road. The rise of Andriy Shevchenko through the ranks of superstardom in England may be heading for a premature end, at least according to today’s Sun. They claim that Jose Mourinho is looking to replace the tired and tiring Ukrainian with Valencia’s David Villa during the January transfer window.

According to the English red-top (never the most trustworthy of organs at the best of times), the Spanish club have already turned down an initial 20 million euro approach, but it now seems that Abramovic and co are willing to up the ante to 30 million – a figure Valencia would find hard to ignore.

Sheva’s sad London hypothesis continues and it makes his transfer of nearly 31 million pounds ( 50 million euro) look like the worst piece of business ever carried out. Leaving behind Milan’s Curva Sud amid protests and wailings of ingratitude so that he could ‘bring his children up in an English speaking environment’, though it is sure that the exorbitant salary to be earned had quite a bit to do with that as well. One last attempt by the Rossoneri supporters to convince their idol to stay fell on deaf ears. His bags were, apparently, already packed.

The fairy tale has not continued though and in the Chelsea jersey, Shevchenko has managed a mere 3 goals in 14 games. “Roman Abramovich would have been better off spending the money on 2.729.808 bottles of vodka”, muses The Sun, though perhaps it would take a little more than that to forget the whole sorry episode.

Many had hoped that Sunday’s match at Old Trafford would have provided the springboard for Sheva but there was nothing doing - 75 minutes of very little followed by substitution. Is this really the end for Sheva at Chelsea?

Translated from la Repubbblica.it

Andriy Shevchenko still does not look himself and the question now is how much longer Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho will tolerate such mediocrity from a player whose worth has proved significantly less than the £31 million AC Milan received for him last summer.
The Ukrainian was so bad against Manchester United that even Silvio Berlusconi would have had to question whether persuading his favourite player to return to the San Siro would amount to a sound business decision. ‘He wants to come back,’ the former Italian prime minister declared with some excitement recently. Hand Chelsea back the money and the champions would be mad to stop him getting his way.
Mourinho was mad on Sunday after seeing United secure the lead and play much the better football for the opening 45 minutes. ‘We got a rollicking from the boss at half-time,’ revealed Ashley Cole. ‘It was the first time I’d seen him like that but I think our response showed we are good enough to win the title.’

But not everyone in blue did respond accordingly. Not Michael Ballack and certainly not Shevchenko, who was put out of his misery when he was replaced by Joe Cole in the 75th minute. While Ballack will probably remain in Chelsea’s side for tomorrow night’s match with Bolton - for his size and strength, if nothing else, against a physically imposing Bolton midfield that made mincemeat of Arsenal on the weekend - Mourinho should leave Shevchenko where he finished up at Old Trafford. The word at Chelsea yesterday suggested he probably would do, and if Mourinho does decide to stop indulging the 30-year-old striker he might just get the reaction his dressing-room rant so evidently failed to produce.

The former recipient of the Ballon d’Or enjoyed his finest hour at Old Trafford in 2003 when he scored the decisive penalty in the Champions League final but for an hour and a quarter on Sunday he was nothing like as potent a force. Drop Shevchenko and it might focus the attention of a player whose comrades are forever describing him as the perfect professional. Why, he might even get himself fit. Right now, he does not fit into the Chelsea team and the sooner Mourinho returns to selecting players on form rather than reputation the more chance they have of closing the gap on United and winning a third successive title.

Yesterday Chelsea players and officials again defended Shevchenko as well as the decision to pay such a vast amount of money for a player they must fear is some way past his best. Peter Kenyon insisted the purchase of Shevchenko was made for all the right reasons. Speaking at the Soccerex conference in Dubai, the Chelsea chief executive said: ‘When you look around, there are not that many players who can improve your team. There are lots who can do a job but to improve the team, that’s when the market becomes very thin. We did not take a one-year view of Shevchenko. He was identified early on as a player who could improve us. Until then, our purchasing strategy was about buying much younger players. It’s about getting the balance right between buying in and producing your own talent to create a winning team.’
Ashley Cole said: ‘For me, Sheva’s done a good job. He’s scored five goals and he’s only going to get better. He’s a nice guy. Often you find in football, the bigger the stars the nicer they are. He’s going to bang in loads of goals for Chelsea, that’s for sure.’
Maybe he will, but only after being reminded that a £30m price tag does not buy a place in the Chelsea team.

From: thisislondon.co.uk

Sheva came on as a late sub for the injured Didier Drogba after 58 minutes against Werder Bremen last night in the penultimate Champions League group stage. Chelsea, however, still managed to qualify for the last sixteen of the Champions League with a game to spare against Levski Sofia.

Shevchenko’s thoughts should now be turning to the weekend’s mega clash with Premiership table toppers, who also lost 1 - 0 in the Champions League to Scottish Champions, Celtic.

Sheva came on to replace Didier Drogba, whose injury remains a concern for Jose Mourinho. Chelsea were at that time trailing to Per Mertesacker’s 26th minute header though Shevchenko managed to go close with a 22 metre free kick during the closing stages. The result means that victory at Stamford Bridge against an admittedly modest Levski team will mean first place in the last sixteen and the chance to play the second leg of the tie at home. Chelsea captain John Terry will miss this match through suspension.

Andriy Shevchenko was surprisingly relegated to the bench with Mikel Jon Obi coming into the midfield.

With Joe Cole also selected it appears that Mourinho has chosen to either play five across the middle to stifle Bremen or give Joe Cole a license to wander up front alongside Uefa Champion’s League Top-Scorer Didier Drogba [5 goals, with Kaká (Milan) and Fernando Morientes (Valencia)].

Therefore, the revised starting line up for Chelsea tonight in Germany is: Carlo Cudicini, Ashley Cole, Claude Makelele, Michael Essien, Khalid Boulahrouz, Joe Cole, Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel, Michael Ballack, Geremi, John Terry.

From: VitalFootball.com

Speaking in celebrations to mark the 90th anniversary of the Chernihiv State Taras Shevchenko Pedagogical University’s founding on Saturday, November 18,
Education & Science Minister Stanislav Nikolayenko stated that Ukrainian system of education is undergoing the process of democratization and gradually attaining European educational standards, Cabinet press office reported.

According to the Minister, the Ukrainian educational system underwent ten years of stagnation, which was followed by a two-year stabilization period.

The Government’s task now is to shift the education system from stabilization to development.

Nikolayenko pointed to the Government’s intention to increase education outlays from 33 bn. UAH in 2006 to 38 bn. UAH in 2007.

From: forUm

Silvio Berlusconi, AC Milan’s ebullient owner claims that Sheva is eyeing a return to Milan. However, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is sure to block any move from the Italians.

Shevchenko scored for the second time in a week, as well as creating another for Drogba, in Chelsea’s 4-0 thrashing of a terrible Watford team at Stamford Bridge while Didier Drogba was a hat-trick hero again.

The international has struggled to adapt to life in the Barclays Premiership but there are signs his partnership with the Ivory Coast hitman is beginning to bear fruit.

Berlusconi insists the 30-year-old, who has only struck five goals in 15 appearances for the champions, has told him he would like to return to Italy.

Berlusconi said: “I spoke to him recently. He called me and I was very happpy to hear from him.”

“I was with many other people and they all clapped him and naturally a chorus started — ‘Sheva, return to us’. He answered that he would like it a lot,” Berlusconi told Sky Italia.

However, Mourinho is unlikely to entertain the idea of allowing the striker to return and claims his strikeforce are now beginning to get a perfect understanding at last.

From Ireland.com/The Irish Times

Andriy Shevchenko was on target on his return as Chelsea eased past Aston Villa by four goals to nil in the Carling Cup 4th Round.

Frank Lampard opened the scoring before Sheva headed home the second.

Michael Essien made it 3-0 when he brilliantly finished from 12 yards and Didier Drogba tucked in the fourth converting Salomon Kalou’s pass.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were keen to make amends for their weekend slip-up against by fielding an almost full-strength team.

Drogba, who has arguably been Mourinho’s most consistent performer this season, was unlucky not to have played team-mate Essien in after good work around the area, but saw his final ball cleared by the alert Olof Mellberg.

Villa were sturdy in defence up until 15 minutes before the break when Ballack stole the ball from Steven Davis and delivered an inviting ball for Lampard, who nodded in.

Worse news was to follow for Martin O’Neill’s men just before the break when Barry came off with an injury following a collision with Ricardo Carvalho, while Laursen was substituted before the restart having picked up a knee injury.

Patrik Berger and Liam Ridgewell came into the XI as O’Neill shuffled his team around in hope of an equaliser.

But Chelsea were in no mood to give the visitors an inch with Drogba almost pulling off a picturebook goal with a scissor-kick.

Then Shevchenko, who had been having a relatively quiet game, came to life.The £30m Ukraine striker tested Sorensen with a curling shot from outside the area before not giving the Danish keeper a chance with a well-placed header when he made it 2-0.

Adapted from BBC Sport

Eto’o joins the Shevchenko debate by claiming that Andriy Shevchenko is being systematically frozen out by his Chelsea team-mates.

The injured Barcelona striker made his accusations in the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport yesterday.

He said Shevchenko had been wrong to leave AC Milan for Stamford Bridge, where he is seen as Roman Abramovich’s “pet” and where the players do not pass to him.

The London club quickly dismissed the comments as pure fiction and a Chelsea spokesman said: “These claims are total rubbish.”

Eto’o spoke out ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League game against Barcelona in the Nou Camp which finished in 2 - 2. Sheva was sidelined with a muscle problem.

Eto’o, out with a knee injury, said: “I have many friends at Chelsea and we often speak.

“He is perceived as Abramovich’s pet and he doesn’t get clean assists to score.

“Even [Didier] Drogba in his early days at Chelsea had the same problem. I believe Shevchenko has made a mistake.

“At Milan everyone plays football and for a forward this is crucial because you have more scoring possibilities.

“Chelsea play more defensive football and the two strikers struggle.”

From: The Sporting Life