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It's been a hectic few days at Chelsea Football Club, but even in times of high drama, the rumor mill does not sleep. The rumor mill is unerringly eternal. Here are a few stories we have missed over the weekend.
CHEIKH N'DOYE:
Recently, rumours from France emerged linking Angers SCO midfielder Cheikh N'Doye to several Premier League clubs including Chelsea, based on a number of scouts sent by the teams presumably to watch the 29-year-old in action against Bordeaux in Ligue 1. Since N'Doye is based in France, there's a good chance that if we did have someone scouting N'Doye, it was Guy Hillion.
"[N'Doye] is an interesting player for the Premier League, but not necessarily for [Chelsea]. If he has to leave for England, he needs to do it soon. He'll need to choose a team where he will play."
-Guy Hillion; source: Le Parisien via Sport Witness
Hillion was also responsible for scouting and recommending names such as Kurt Zouma and Papy Djilobodji to the Blues in the last few years. Based on how the latter of those two panned out, it's not a surprise that he sounds a bit more reserved on the chances of N'Doye making any impact at Chelsea.
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE:
This one's the freshest rumor and the name it involves is known quantity to most. Apparently, Mourinho had put Benteke on top, or at least near the top of his striker wishlist (a list that does not include Jamie Vardy, as we learned from other rumors) and, according to the Mirror, if Hiddink's keen as well, Chelsea might pursue the former Aston Villa striker, possibly on a loan deal.
It should be noted that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp puts the chances of anything happening with Benteke at this time at "nil per cent". That seems pretty definitive.
BOJAN KRKIC:
Having revitalized his career at the most unlikeliest of all unlikely places, Stoke City forward Bojan Krkic is apparently on the holiday shopping list of more than just a few teams, including but not limited to Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United. The former Barcelona prospect's price tag is in the £15m region, though why Stoke would want to sell is beyond me. Manager Mark Hughes is confident that Bojan's also happy the Potteries.
JONATHAN CALLERI:
Last and also least, the young Argentinian striker's move from Boca Juniors to somewhere in Europe still has not been finalized. He looked all set to join Inter Milan over Chelsea (and others), but now the Italian club seem to playing a bit of hard-ball.
"We are tracking him, he has an interesting profile, but right now there is nothing more. I read some things that made me smile. There is no deal. We worked very hard over the summer and if you do things right then January can be relatively calm. We don't need big changes."
"We are surprised by how well the 10 new players have settled in and Roberto Mancini did a great job. We don't want to relax, but we'll see where we are in March."
-Piero Ausilio; source: Sky Sports Italia via Football Italia
Sounds like there's still time for a late swoop, if we're interested, though chances are, we aren't.