Soccer News:Arjen Robben's future at Chelsea is likely to hinge on the London club's pursuit of the Feyenoord midfielder Royston Drenthe. After making a bid of €7 million for the Dutch Under-21 international, Chelsea have now upped their offer to €10 million. Chelsea are proposing that Drenthe be loaned back to Feyenoord for next season before arriving at Stamford Bridge next summer.
Real Madrid, however, have also registered serious interest in the left-sided 20-year-old and are understood to be willing to bid much closer to Feyenoord's asking price of €17 million. Madrid's determination to recruit Drenthe is underlined by the interest that is being taken by both the club's president, Ramon Calderon, and the sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic.
Signing Robben would almost certainly become less of a priority for Madrid if they succeeded in buying Drenthe, although the coach, Bernd Schuster, is keen to add plenty of pace and mobility to his team.
Drenthe was the star player in the Netherland's recent victory in the European Under-21 championships and has also caught the attention of Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Everton, Monaco and Roma.
The squad will be bolstered today when a number of the players who have limped through pre-season in recent days return to full training. Chelsea expect John Terry, who has been suffering with a broken toe, Andriy Shevchenko (back) and Robben (knee) to be among those rejoining first-team routines after missing Tuesday's 2-0 friendly win at Brondby.
Terry's return in particular will be a boost given that Sunday's meeting with Manchester United in the Community Shield is looming ever larger.
Michael Essien, Lassana Diarra and Claude Makelele, who is attracting interest from Barcelona as he enters the final year of his contract, should also be fit enough to take a full part in the session. Diarra, who is also in the final year of his contract, may start the season as an Arsenal player if Arsene Wenger follows up his long-standing interest in the utility player with a €6 million offer.
Eidur Gudjohnsen will not travel on Barcelona's pre-season tour to Asia amid speculation that he is poised for a move to England. The former Chelsea forward was not named in the squad to fly to Beijing today and, although Barcelona say that he is recovering from injury, reports in Spain suggest that he has been sidelined because of interest from Newcastle United and Manchester City as well as West Ham United.
Hopes were rising yesterday of a negotiated settlement to the Carlos Tevez affair as West Ham United executives met representatives from Media Sports Investment and Just Sports Inc. Negotiations have long been in progress between lawyers but it is thought that yesterday's talks were the first to be held in person between executives of the opposing sides since a writ was served on the club by MSI-JSI last week.
Eggert Magnusson, West Ham's chairman, was not involved since he is expected to be called as a witness if the case reaches the high court for a three-day hearing from August 22. However, despite his arm's-length approach to the case, he is understood to have stipulated that a resolution should be reached in the coming days or he will abandon negotiations.
Legal proceedings were initiated by MSI-JSI in an effort to force the forward's release before the end of the transfer window. The offshore companies are alleging that a contract drawn up by Magnusson, which demanded that Tevez must move on July 1st, had been breached. The Hammers have questioned the validity of that contract, since it was not countersigned by the player, but MSI-JSI insist they possess an exchange of emails supporting their position. It is hoped that a settlement can be reached but West Ham are demanding a multimillion-pound fee to permit the player's release.
That follows the Premier League's demand that the club must treat Tevez as its own asset in accordance with undertakings made in May by the Upton Park board. The Hammers have argued to the Premier League that Tevez's value to them has been significantly reduced by a series of factors. These are principally that the player wants out and that as the subject of breach-of-contract litigation the club could potentially lose an eight-figure sum in damages.
This is understood to have gained some credence with the Premier League, with the club hoping it might accept a payment of not more than €4.4 million being the "market value" it demands.
Yesterday's talks were aimed at persuading MSI-JSI it would be in the player's interest for the companies to accept such a deal. It would seem that Manchester United might hold the solution to the problem, since it is Alex Ferguson who hopes to sign Tevez. But despite his frustration at the delays, the Old Trafford board considers that in agreeing a package with MSI-JSI it has negotiated with the entitled party and will not offer any more money to compensate West Ham.
