Franck Ribery Links With Chelsea Are Probably Nonsense

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I am 99% sure these rumours are a terrible joke, but in the interests of full coverage, there's been a Franck Ribery to Chelsea rumour floating around for the past day or so and now people are starting to say it's done. There is a non-zero chance that this is real news, but as far as I'm concerned it's a pretty small chance, because the idea of signing an expensive, Champions League cup-tied 28-year-old left winger while Florent Malouda and Juan Mata exist is... well, it's a little bizarre, especially when Chelsea are trying to reinforce the midfield instead.

The talk of Ribery being unable to sign because he's not on the Bundesliga transfer list is even more nonsensical than the rumour, incidentally, because that list doesn't apply to Chelsea, just to other German teams. Of course, that tidbit doesn't mean that he will move, just that he's free to in the extraordinarily unlikely event that all parties want a move. So far the rumours seem to be looking at a fee of around €22M, which seems awfully low compared to what you'd expect Bayern Munich to be looking to be looking for for a Ribery buy. I don't really see any way this is true, but you never can be sure with this sort of thing, so might as well give everyone a heads up.