AS Roman rubbishes cash claim
30 May 2007 - 15:33:26
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- AS Roman rubbishes cash claim
Chelsea owner AS Roman Abramovich has rejected claims that he will no longer bring players to Stamford Bridge by spending heavily in the transfer market.
According to reports, the Russian billionaire had grown tired of bankrolling Chelsea and was looking for the club to become more self-sufficient.
However, Abramovich, who has spent nearly £250million on transfers in four years at the Chelsea helm, claims he is happy to continue funding the club.
"This is absolute nonsense," he told Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"Everything will remain the same. My relationship with Chelsea has not changed and I wouldn't want to change anything."
Last summer Abramovich funded the £30million signing of Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko and also splashed out £5million to land Ashley Cole from Arsenal in a part-exchange deal involving William Gallas.
Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel also arrived at Stamford Bridge after the Blues agreed to pay Manchester United a reported £16million in compensation.
However, so far this close season manager Jose Mourinho has only added Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell to his squad on a free transfer.
Earlier in the month, Mourinho outlined his plans for the summer, saying: "Our squad is obvious and it's easy to understand that we need a central defender, we need another midfield player, especially because we will lose Michael Essien and Mikel for the African Nations Cup, and we need a striker because we will lose Didier (Drogba) and Salomon (Kalou)," he said.
"So if we don't get injuries, and if we get three new players to give a good balance to the team, I think we are in a good position.
"We don't need to spend money on big transfers, we can do it calmly, wisely, and we can do a good job and keep the money in the bank."