Monday, June 1, 2009

Ancelotti gives Chelsea edge on Kaka

Carlo Ancelotti has been confirmed as the manager of Chelsea! It's massive news, and not only will Chelsea get a four-times winner of the Champions League (twice as a player, twice as AC Milan's manager), they will also get a fantastic advantage in the Kaka auction, which is due to take place later this summer.

With Real Madrid's Florentino Perez already having name-checked Kaka as one of his future signings, Kaka looks like he will be on the move this summer. Change is afoot at AC, with manager and team-mates moving on, and Kaka will be sold to fund the freshening up of the squad. The question is whether Kaka will choose Real's unstable millions, or take a punt on a Chelsea side managed by the man who signed him from Brazil, gave him his first chance in European football, and has turned him into one of the best footballers in the world? Chelsea with Kaka and a few other attackers would be formidable.

Ancelotti's compatriot Roberto Mancini may well have touted himself for the Sunderland spot, but it looks like Wigan's Steve Bruce will be taking that hotseat. With £20m to spend, Bruce has a chance to build a team that can challenge for the top half of the table - with Lee Cattermole, Dean Ashton and Darren Bent linked to the Rokerites.

It may well be that Roberto Martinez, who used to play at the JJB stadium, will take over as Latics' next manager, but there are also noises linking the Spaniard to Celtic - arguably a much more attractive role, even if they are currently struggling to compete with Walter Smith's Rangers.

With the managerial merry-go-round just getting started, you would imagine that Sven Goran Eriksson will find a club in the Premier League, with Portsmouth looking the most likely option. That said, he has also been linked with the Real Madrid post, now that Perez is back in charge of the club, and could be the man to lead a new age of Galacticos, which may or may not include Cristiano Ronaldo, Antonio Valencia, and maybe even a certain world-beating Brazilian.