Last week it appeared as if the future of Michael Ballack was at Manchester United. Salford FC, always above board with their transfer negotiations, were busy discussing with the Bayern Munich captain even though they were not legally entitled to do so until January 1st 2006. Those negotiations collapsed, prompting Alex Ferguson to declare that it was Manchester United which had pulled out of the talks.
Fergus was trying to put a positive spin on an embarrassing situation. The ManUre?s pullout has left Ballack?s future very much up in the air.
Ballack doesn?t seem to be keen on staying at Bayern. Immediately the name of Real Madrid entered into the frame. As did Chelsea, with trashy German tabloid ?Bild? declaring that Chelsea were interested.
But contacted by a somewhat higher quality newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Peter Kenyon declared that ?the only thing that I will say is that Michael Ballack will not come to us. I can not comment on anything else.?
That would appear to be fairly conclusive. Except the news from Germany would suggest that Chelsea?s interest is not totally dead. It is none either than Karl-Heinze Rumenigge, Bayern Munich?s Vice President who stirs up trouble by declaring ?Ballack?s future will be decided in January, and he will probably sign for Real Madrid or Chelsea?. He makes these declarations in the venerable Italian sports daily ?La Gazzeta dello Sport?.
?Ballack could end up playing in Madrid or Chelsea. I?m sure that he?ll decide to play in a high-level championship. Madrid is going through a bad moment, and such a player would do them good to recover their image. Chelsea is a team that is advancing. We hope that it will all be solved in January. If he goes, we won?t make a drama? is how the Bayern suit sums it all up.
Of course, these declarations have sent alarm bells ringing in Madrid at the thought that they could be going head to head with Chelsea. Which might well be why Zinedine Zidane immediately declared that he?d be delighted if Ballack signed for Madrid.
But look at Rumenigge?s declarations. He doesn?t actually say that Chelsea are interested, only that Ballack would ?probably? sign for Madrid or Chelsea. We can interpret this as stating that Ballack would sign only for a very top team with a lot of money. That?s a team like Chelsea, not Chelsea itself.
Frankly, it doesn?t really work out: Chelsea?s central midfield already consists of Lampard and Essien for the more forward roles, and Makelele for the holding role (one which is not Ballack?s). Which of those two would sit down to accommodate the German captain? Or would Ballack be prepared to sit out behing Frank and The Bison?
In addition, we have to give some credence to Kenyon?s role. He might have a reputation for being slippery, but he has never denied flatly an interest when he was, in fact, sniffing around. Yet on this occasion, when he could have said something non-committal, he chose to declared that Chelsea were definitely not interested.
For all these reasons, we find it very hard to believe that Chelsea are really chasing the Michael Ballack.
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