A FURIOUS Roman Abramovich has turned on his Chelsea players, asking them if they are at the club only to pocket his money.
The billionaire, who sat stony-faced during the Champions League loss to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan on Tuesday, challenged the players during a two-hour meeting yesterday.
He asked them: “Are you good players or are you well-paid players?”
The comprehensive defeat by Inter has also left manager Carlo Ancelotti fighting for his future. He has been made aware that he must deliver the Barclays Premier League title to be certain of avoiding the sack.
Abramovich is already understood to be considering the possibility of looking for his seventh manager since taking over in 2003 if the Italian fails to respond to a huge setback by not landing a third English championship.
Ancelotti admitted on Tuesday night that losing to his most prominent predecessor had put him in a precarious position. ‘I’ve worked for a long time in this environment and I know exactly what the expectations are,’ he said.
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“It’s normal that a manager is going to come under pressure if he loses a few matches.”
Abramovich turned to Ancelotti because he had won the Champions League twice as AC Milan manager. He did not expect the Italian to fail to get beyond the last 16.
The Russian owner fears his side could be declining in much the same manner as AC Milan and accepts that further investment is needed.
Fernando Torres will be a target if Liverpool miss the Champions League places, while there is also continued interest in players such as Franck Ribery, David Villa and Marek Hamsik.
Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder could also soon be on Chelsea’s wish-list, given how impressive the Dutchman was on Tuesday night. –– DailyMail.
