VIDEO SPECIAL: See the 'Russian Ronaldinho' - Chelsea target Yuri Zhirkov - at his brilliantbest

12 June 2009 09:41
What do you get if you cross the skill of Cristiano Ronaldo, the pace of Henry, the close control of Messi and the shooting of Rooney? The answer, it seems, is Yuri Zhirkov - and he could be coming to a stadium near you. The 25-year-old CSKA winger - Ballon d'Or nominee and multi-award winner in his native Russia - is closing in on a summer move to Stamford Bridge. But is the 'Russian Ronaldinho' worth all the hype? Looking at these vids...I'll throw my hat in and say almost certainly YES.... The amazing effort above was against Hamburg in the 2006-07 Champions League and voted best goal of the competition by UEFA Magazine Goal. Below is just a little something he threw together in the Russian Premier League. The compilation's pretty impressive too. But it didn't start off so well for young Yuri. The son of a factory hand and postal worker, he grew up in a working class area of Tambov, a city to the south of Moscow and shared a one-bedroom apartment with the rest of his family. Controversially, he was the first of five players sent off in a Russian under-21 game against Denmark in 2005. All in the last seven minutes.

Source: Daily_Mail