The news comes in the Spanish sports daily ?As?, which supports Real Madrid. Apparently Ricardo Carvalho, one-time UEFA defender of the year (when with Porto) has been offered to Madrid and to Barcelona. Carvalho?s agent, Jorgé Mendes called up Madrid a few days ago to let the Spanish giants know that Carvalho was on the market.
Carvalho hasn?t been seeing eye to eye with José Mourinho, which might explain why, in recent weeks, William Gallas has been given the nod to partner John Terry in central defence. José has therefore lost his patience with Carvalho. ?As? adds that Roman Abramovich isn?t opposed to the transfer either. The newspaper points out that Abramovich is a partner of Mendes? in a company called Gestifute which represents a number of Portuguese footballers, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Simao, Jorge Andrade, as well as Ricardo Carvalho.
It?s said that another Portuguese player with strong ties to Madrid, one Luis Figo, has recommended to new Madrid President Fernando Martín that Carvalho would be a good signing, and that Martín has therefore asked for reports on Chelsea?s defender from former coach José Antonio Camacho. Camacho, when he was coach, asked ex-President Florentino Pérez to sign Carvalho from Porto. Instead Carvalho went to Chelsea for a mere ?30 million. The rumour is that Chelsea would be happy to sell for less.
How do we rate this rumour? As a ?medium?. The name not mentioned in this rumour is one Christian Chivu, currently playing at Roma. Chivu is said to be on Madrid and Barça?s wishlists ? as well as Chelsea?s. Selling Carvalho to one of those clubs would help Chelsea obtain a head start when it comes to trying to sign the Romanian international, who is a magnificent player.