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