When I started this blog, I told myself not to make this blog look like a football blog. So, I've not posted anything about my favourite game so far. But today, that 'record' will be broken. All but because my favourite player will leave my favourite club. That's right, while I'm surfing the net just now, I saw the news that Andrei Shevchenko (my favourite player) will leave Chelsea (my favourite club) within the next few days. Although expected, but still I'm devastated.
Sheva (short form for Shevchenko) wanted first team football regularly, however Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti cannot guarantee that, so Sheva was told that he can now leave the club and seek for another new club.
Okay... A bit of a history here. Sheva is one of my favourite players ever since the day I started watching football. During his time at AC Milan, he was famous for his speed and dribbling skills. He proved that he is one of the most leathal strikers in Europe, let alone Italy, during that period. Sheva truly became a Milan legend for the number of goals he scored for them. In 2003, Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club and began his persuit of Sheva. AC Milan hung on the Sheva for 3 years by keep refusing Chelsea's offers to buy the player. Reason? Because Sheva is just too important for AC Milan. From here, it can clearly be seen how good Sheva is. Somehow in 2006, Roman got his dream come true, or more importantly, I got my dream come true too! Sheva became a Chelsea player, during which he also became the most expensive player in the English Premiership at that time. I was so excited at the prospect of seeing Sheva play for my favourite club. Expectations were high, especially due to his expensive transfer fee and high wages. He made his debut against Liverpool and scored! But Chelsea will then go on to lose the game 1-2. After that, Sheva began to fade away. The then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho even altered his formations to accommodate Sheva better in the team. However, Sheva failed to settle in the team and his performances were nowhere near his peak. A dull second season then followed. And after scoring Chelsea's final goal of the 2007/08 season, he was loaned back to his old club, AC MIlan. There, he again failed to recapture his form. Eventually this season he returned to Chelsea, but not for long. Although Ancelotti followed him from AC Milan to Chelsea, but even he cannot guarantee that he would use Sheva regularly. Sadly, Sheva opted to leave.
Sheva's leaving actually follows a list of patterns. Firstly, Ukraine (Sheva's country) strikers always seem to be unable to succeed in the Premiership. Sergei Rebrov formed a leathal partnership with Sheva when both of them are at Dynamo Kiev, but failed dismally during his Premiership stint. Then we got Andriy Voronin (although still a Premierhsip player now), who is Sheva's striker partner in Ukraine national team, deemed surplus to requirements in Liverpool.
Secondly, Sheva also follows a long list of failed Chelsea strikers over the past few years (damn I hate to say this, it just shows that many have failed at Chelsea). From Adrian Mutu, to Hernan Crespo. From Mateja Kezman, to Claudio Pizarro. Hmm... maybe Chelsea just have tendency to fail previously successful strikers? xD
Anyway, based on the strikers that Chelsea have right now, including 2 golden boot winners Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, it might really be best for Sheva personally to leave the club.
Overall in 2 full seasons at Chelsea, Sheva scored 22 goals. But perhaps his best contribution to the club would be the unleashing of his strike partner Drogba. Remarkably, Drogba's best 2 seasons for Chelsea so far are actually during the 2 seasons Sheva is in the club!
All the best in whichever club you join! Sheva ^^
Andrei Shevchenko celebrates goal.
Sheva in one of his final few games for Chelsea.
Didier Drogba and Andrei Shevchenko
No comments:
Post a Comment