Unsettled Shevchenko down but not looking for way out
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Your support makes all the difference.Andrei Shevchenko has made a disappointing start to his Chelsea career and is frustrated by his lack of goals, one of his advisers admitted yesterday. But Fabio Parisi insisted there was little chance of the Ukrainian returning to Milan in the January transfer window.
Parisi said the Italian club, who sold Shevchenko in May, would not be interested because he is not be eligible to play for them in the Champions' League which was their "No 1 target" this season. They already have four strikers and invested heavily in the Brazilian Ricardo Oliviera last summer.
"Also Mr Abramovich has made a £30m investment [in buying Shevchenko] and does he want to see that investment go on loan for six months?" the agent added. "I don't think he'll go back this season, but never say never. There have been a lot of rumours linking him to Milan.
"Andrei has honestly not told me that he wants to leave and I have not been told if Milan does or does not want him. I think he will continue to play at Chelsea. He is frustrated. He's a striker and a striker loves to score goals and he is not scoring regularly enough this season."
Parisi was responding to a Russian newspaper report quoting Shevchenko as saying that his "game doesn't suit [Jose] Mourinho" and he was "ready to pack his bags" and return to Italy. "Roman Abramovich is my friend, but all he could do was insist on a loan deal instead of me being sold," Shevchenko is reported to have said.
Chelsea moved quickly to rebut the story, pointing out that the striker had not spoken to the publication and his last interview was with the Russian magazine ProSport, which carried none of the quotes which appeared yesterday.
Nevertheless, the 30-year-old, who has scored seven times, has failed to make the expected impact at Chelsea and was dropped, rather than rested, for the recent Champions' League game at Werder Bremen this week.
Parisi claimed there were mitigating circumstances, not least the injury he had to recover from in time for the World Cup and the adjustment needed for the Premiership.
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