Chelsea appeared to be closing in on Florent Malouda last
night after Lyon said they had received a "strong offer" from
Stamford Bridge. Officials at Chelsea would only confirm that they
remain "interested" and denied claims that anyone from the club was
meeting with Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas.
But a spokesman for the French champions said they had received a
bid, believed to be in the region of £15million, from Chelsea for
the French player of the year. "Chelsea have come back with a
strong offer and Jean-Michel Aulas could meet a Chelsea official in
the next few hours," said the spokesman.
Malouda is a talented 27-year-old left winger who has won 28 caps
for France and played in the 2006 World Cup Final, winning the
seventh minute penalty converted by Zinedine Zidane. He could be
the perfect replacement for Arjen Robben should Chelsea coach Jose
Mourinho decide to sell the Dutchman to Real Madrid or Bayern
Munich.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, bought for £21m from Manchester City in July
2005 but rarely used by Mourinho until the latter stages of last
season, could also move on if the Malouda deal is completed. There
will be no shortage of Premiership suitors with City, West Ham,
Aston Villa and Tottenham all tracking him.
Yesterday, Malouda, who has won four French league titles with
Lyon, was seen leaving the club's training camp in the Alps. But
Chelsea officials, irritated by Lyon's openness during the
negotiations, said nothing should be read into that, either. After
forcing Chelsea to pay more than £24m for Michael Essien two years
ago, Lyon may not be their favourite club and relations appear to
be strained.
Aulas has certainly done Lyon's bidding in public on this occasion
in an effort to increase the pressure on Chelsea. He confirmed that
Malouda could leave Lyon, but only at the right price. "We will
help him to leave if we get offers to the level we are expecting,
but if there are not any such offers he will stay," he said.
Prior to that, Aulas appeared to be losing patience with Chelsea.
Malouda has made it clear he wants to move to Stamford Bridge but
Aulas said: "I told Flo that I wasn't sure the deal was going to
materialise and that it was necessary he went to Tignes for our
training camp. "I am not sure Chelsea have the desire or the means
to call out to Florent Malouda. Peter Kenyon (Chelsea's chief
executive) said to Flo he was leaving for Moscow to meet the club's
owner (Roman Abramovich). Sometimes things happen quickly, but I
don't feel these people really want to tie up this deal."
The likelihood, nevertheless, remains that Chelsea will now
complete the signing of Malouda.
