Football: Missing... making it... and mistaken

Andy Myers

Chelsea

THE 25-year-old midfielder made 17 appearances for the Stamford Bridge side last season but has yet to figure once this term - apparently becoming another English player squeezed out by Chelsea's foreign imports. Surely he will not want to languish in the shadows much longer, having last played in the Premiership against Blackburn Rovers last April.

Curtis Woodhouse

Sheffield United

THE talented England Under-18 midfielder has been targeted by the Newcastle manager, Ruud Gullit, and attracted the attention of Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday in recent weeks. But, after lengthy contract talks with the Driffield-born 18-year-old, the Blades manager, Steve Bruce, is increasingly confident he can keep him at Bramall Lane.

HAVING stood in for Agent Fox Mulder in the X-files, Chelsea's Romanian wing-back now seems to be developing a parallel career as an England off-spinner. How he has managed to combine the two is a puzzler. Maybe Mulder can answer that one...