Premiership - Chelsea close on Pizarro
Premiership - Chelsea are on the verge of signing striker Claudio
Pizarro from Bayern Munich on a free transfer, according to English
press reports.
The 28-year-old Peru international, nicknamed "the Bomber from the
Andes", has endured a turbulent season in the Bundesliga, and
incurred the wrath of the club's supporters after stealing the ball
from Roy Makaay after the team had been awarded a penalty against
Frankfurt, and promptly missing the spot-kick. He retained his
place in the team though, keeping German international Lukas
Podolski on the bench.
Pizarro was offered a new contract by the club in Spring, though
angered club bosses by rejecting it and demanding more money,
prompting chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to remark: "Anyone wishing
to earn like Shevchenko must first play like Shevchenko."
Pizarro, who has scored 97 goals in 229 for Bayern since joining
from Werder Bremen in 2001, would bolster the Blues front line,
which looked increasingly depleted toward the end of last season
due to Andriy Shevchenko's poor form, and which will be left two
men short when Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba head to the African
Nations Cup in January.
