CHELSEA continued their preparations for the return of the Premier League with a 7-1 win over West London rivals QPR.
And the Blues may have to move quickly to get their deal for Timo Werner over the line with his release clause expiring, while they remain £15m away from Leverkusen’s valuation of Kai Havertz.
CONTRACT BLUES
John Terry revealed his dad was so furious he snubbed Manchester United for Chelsea that he refused to join his son on the pitch as he signed his first contract.
Terry, who had been playing for West Ham at youth level up until the age of 14, had the choice of joining the Blues, United or Arsenal.
But after falling in love with Chelsea, the defender defied his dad’s wishes and refused a United contract.
Terry told the Footballer’s Guide to Football podcast: “My dad never wanted me to sign for Chelsea.
“Actually, on the pitch of me signing my schoolboy form at the club, my dad refused to go on the pitch with me.
“I’m in the tunnel, the players are coming off the pitch and I’m waiting in the tunnel, Glenn Hoddle goes past and my dad’s going, ‘You’re not signing for this football club, we should sign for Man United’…
WILL I OR WON’T HE?
Manchester United have “made contact” with Willian’s representatives over a free transfer swoop.
The Brazilian international’s contract is due to expire in two weeks’ time.
The Blues have a policy of offering players over 30 one-year contracts and the former Shakhtar Donetsk star is in that bracket.
According to France Football, United have ‘registered an interest’ in Willian with Kia Joorabchian and could bring him to Old Trafford on a Bosman.
PJANIC BUY
Chelsea have made a bid to sign Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic, according to reports.
The Bosnian ace is set to move this summer and Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport claim he has “listened to a proposal from Chelsea”.
The Blues are understood to be enforcing a new ‘one-in, one-out’ transfer policy.
The club need to recoup some money in sales to finance new moves and boss Frank Lampard may have to let N’Golo Kante go in order to land Pjanic.
With Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech’s arrivals totalling £90million, the West London club need to raise cash from some outgoings.
Kante has long been courted by French champions Paris Saint-Germain and also linked with Real Madrid.
MANY CLUBS INTERESTED
Bayer Leverkusen managing director Fernando Karro has updated fans on Chelsea target Kai Havertz’s situation.
He said: “For Kai Havertz I see that many clubs are interested in him.
“Kai has been with us for ten years.
“I see the player’s wish to take the next step sometime in the near future.
”You have to respect that just as much as the fact that he has a contract in Leverkusen until 2022.
“You have to try to find a solution where the player’s goal can be reconciled with ours. At the moment nobody can say for sure what will happen,
BLUES IN FRAME
Four Chelsea youngsters have been named on the longlist for the Golden Boy award.
Previous winners include Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Raheem Sterling and Kylian Mbappe.
Ethan Ampadu, Tino Anjorin, Billy Gilmour and Callum Hudson-Odoi have all been nominated.
There are 17 British players nominated: Max Aarons (Norwich), Ethan Ampadu (Chelsea), Tino Anjorin (Chelsea), Trae Coyle (Arsenal), Karamoko Dembele (Celtic), Phil Foden (Man City), James Garner (Man Utd), Morgan Gibbs-White (Wolves), Billy Gilmour (Chelsea) Angel Gomes (Man Utd), Mason Greenwood (Man Utd), Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ryan Sessegnon (Tottenham), Oliver Skipp (Tottenham).
DOUBLE DROP
Chelsea are set to be offered Adrien Rabiot and Fernando Bernardeschi as Juventus plot an audacious double swoop for Jorginho and Marcos Alonso.
Juve chief Maurizio Sarri is keen to bring in two of his old favourites from Stamford Bridge this summer.
And the Serie A champions are willing to offer two players AND cash to get the deal over the line.
Sarri spent just one season at Chelsea, but in that time made no bones about his love of Jorginho – having already brought him to West London with him from Napoli.
The ex-Blues chief even played star man N’Golo Kante out of position to accommodate his fellow Italian.
Spanish left-back Alonso was another favourite of Sarri – and appears set to be sold by Frank Lampard, who remain unconvinced by him, this summer.
Eden Hazard “worked like an animal” to get fit again in a “miraculous” return from surgery, according to reports in Spain.
The Real Madrid star underwent surgery on his injured ankle on March 5 in Dallas, USA.
And after returning to Spain – just days before the lockdown was enforced – Hazard worked day and night to get himself into two shape.
The former Chelsea winger, 29, first arrived at the Bernabeu nearly a stone overweight, a fact he himself admitted.
But Marca have described Hazard as working “like an animal” to shed the excess timber and become a force in Los Blancos’ bid to oust Barcelona atop the LaLiga standings.
The Spanish outlet have revealed Hazard had the stitches in his ankle removed in April and then turned his own house into a private gym.
IT’S APPALLING
Gary Neville is still haunted over his failure to back England’s black players following their disgusting racist abuse in Spain.
And the former England and Manchester United star believes Premier League stars should now walk off the pitch if they are targeted.
Sky Sports pundit Neville admits he is ashamed over his failure to act when England’s stars, including Ashley Cole, were targeted by racists throughout a friendly away in Madrid in 2004.
Neville said: “I’ve been quite vocal on Sky Sports over the last 12 to 18 months around racism and just felt very uncomfortable with, to be fair, my lack of action when I think that I sat next to Ashley Cole in that dressing room in Spain all those years ago.
“I came off the pitch at the end of the game, got in the shower, didn’t say a word to him, went and did my interviews after the game, probably ignored or semi answered the question on racism, walked onto the bus, went back home and didn’t think.
“I just accepted it almost. It is appalling.”
LAST-MINUTE TUNE-UP
Premier League home teams can blast out ‘walk-on’ music for their subs from tomorrow night.
With all games in empty grounds, top-flight chiefs want to try and restore some advantage to the hosts.
So clubs can play music at “key moments”, including after goals and for subs.
It is unclear whether players will have individual tunes, or use the same music.
West Ham will run out to ‘Bubbles’ when they play Wolves on Saturday.
A club source said: “After ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, it’s probably the most distinct club song in the Premier League.”
WERNER LATEST
Chelsea’s transfer for Timo Werner is expected to be officially completed this week.
According to the Evening Standard, the Blues are ‘dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s’ on their move for the RB Leipzig hitman.
Werner’s £53million release clause is thought to have expired yesterday.
The deal has slowed since news broke of Chelsea hijacking Liverpool’s interest in the 24-year-old.
Werner will sign a five-year-deal worth £200,000-a-week to join Hakim Ziyech as new arrivals at Stamford Bridge.
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