Russian source claims Abramovich connection key in hijacking Willian's Spurs deal

And the plot thickens.

Not being familiar with Russian media beyond Pravda back when the Iron Curtain was still standing tall and sharp, I have no idea what level of trustability Sport Express may be on.  Perhaps they're like the BBC of Russia.  Or perhaps just Guardian/Telegraph/Times level.  Or perhaps they're the Russian equivalent of that one Turkish publication that made up a whole interview with John Obi Mikel.  Regardless, they've got a wonderful story to tell us.  It's a tale of rather epic clandestine proportions, straight out of the pages of Cold War spy missions.

Picture the scene, Tottenham Hotspur's offices, somewhere on the wrong side of town.  Outside, the hustle and bustle of North London is completely unaware that Abramovich's operatives are about to steal in and whisk young Willian away from our ol'e pal Andre Villas-Boas, right from under his nose.  We have it on good authority that they distracted him momentarily with a pretty PowerPoint slide transition, while whispering "rosebud" into Willian's ear.  The whole thing took less than two seconds, or about the time it would take Roman to pick up the phone and dial his good buddy Suleiman and make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Russian outlet Sport Express says it's good relations between club owners Suleiman Kerimov and Roman Abramovich which has helped Chelsea get ahead, and of course being willing to offer more money. They say that Chelsea was also Willian's first choice and he jumped at the chance to be able to join the other London club.

The outlet are sure that Willian will now be joining Chelsea and claim that Abramovich has 'killed' any chance Tottenham had of getting the player. There's always the possibility that the name of Chelsea is being used to give Tottenham a scare and make them offer whatever Kia Joorabchian wants, but that seems an outside bet at this stage.

-source: Sport Witness

So that's all quite fanciful and perhaps coming to a big screen near you soon.

That being said, this move makes about zero sense to me, unless we're about to sell/loan Victor Moses (sadface) or loan Kevin De Bruyne (sadder face) or, saddest face of all, sell Jua... yeah, no, that would be super silly, right?