Source: Daily_Mail
Yuri the electrician set to spark Chelsea after coming from Russia with love
When John Terry heard he would soon be playing in the same team as Yuri Zhirkov, the Chelsea captain did his homework on the man they call the 'Russian Ronaldinho'.
Zhirkov, the £18million signing from CSKA Moscow, trained with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday but Terry had already got the inside track on the 25-year-old from German Tkachenko, a confidant of Stamford Bridge owner Roman Abramovich and powerful player agency president.
Terry learned of a player considered the biggest talent in Russia yet who prefers to shun the limelight as a private family man.
They are not the words of an agent trying to sell his player - Zhirkov, in fact, manages to get by without a representative taking a slice of his wages, now £80,000 a week from a three-year contract at Stamford Bridge.
Few have a bad word to say about the guy who starred at left back as Russia reached the semi-finals of Euro 2008 but is more adept at playing further upfield.
New Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti admires his versatility, while predecessor Guus Hiddink fully supported the move. Russia boss Hiddink said recently: 'Zhirkov plays a very modern game. He's capable of covering all the left side of the pitch alone. A player can only do this if he has brilliant technical skills and physical condition. He's a top-class footballer.'
Terry also dropped an email to Alexey Smertin - a former team-mate he affectionately calls the 'Crazy Russian' - and the recently retired 34-year-old midfielder believes Zhirkov will have no problem adapting to London.
Smertin said: 'He must play with the same confidence and impudence that he shows for Russia and CSKA. But off the field he is a simple, humble guy and the British will appreciate that.'
Zhirkov is certainly a product of a humble upbringing. Growing up in the nondescript town of Tambov, he would play football in the yard late into the night to escape a crowded one-room apartment that was home to his parents and three siblings.
Father Valentin, who saved Yuri from drowning when he was seven years old, worked in a factory while his mother delivered mail.
