Michael Essien To AC Milan And Other Such Ramblings

A lot happening this week which I've been too busy to write up just yet, so let's do bullet points.

• Five Chelsea players have been selected by Stuart Pearce to represent England at the U-21 European Championships this summer: Danny Sturridge, Josh McEachran, Michael Mancienne (who is 23), Ryan Bertrand, and Jack Cork. The 40-man squad will be trimmed at some point, but hey, good news. I'd expect Sturridge and Mancienne to end up on the list, and I'm very hopeful that McEachran makes it too.

• Cast your vote for Chelsea player of the year and goal of the year here. Since I'm nice and very helpful, the correct answers are Peter Cech and Alex vs. Arsenal.
• Michael Essien is apparently an £18M target for AC Milan, which sounds silly but I've already written my headline so I have to include it in these bullet points. Go ahead and take him for that much, guys. He's kind of broken these days.
• Porto are claiming that Brazilian striker Hulk will only be sold for €100M (his release clause). This is a lie.
• Other news out of Porto: Andres Villas Boas is amazing. Don't believe me?

  People think I am the next one but I am not the next one. I am a normal coach who benefits from having top players and one day I will not benefit from having this type of talent. I am not the Special One. Maybe, then, I will be The S**t One.

  ...

  London is a city where I could live perfectly. We had some good times [at Chelsea] and the people in the club are fantastic - from the players, staff and the owner.

  -Andre Villas Boas, Porto manager. Source: ESPN Soccernet.

  WANT.
• Chelsea have hired a sports-marketing firm to help promote the club in China. I don't really know what this means apart from the obvious, but promoting David Luiz to anyone can't be that hard, can it?
• And finally, a great quote from Michael Essien about the season so far (I think?):

  To use a sandwich analogy: sweet bread at the top, sour filling and more sweet bread at the bottom

  I make much better sandwiches than Michael Essien.