Ballack set to make Chelsea return after eight months out

It is just as well that money — he has been paid £130,000 a week since last April — does not matter at Stamford Bridge.

Ballack sped out of Chelsea's training ground yesterday in his white Ferrari, cruelly nicknamed 'The Ambulance' by merciless members of the first team, after being told that he was back in the squad some 240 days since he last appeared in a Chelsea shirt.

Eight months have passed since Ballack limped off the field after just 18 minutes at St James' Park following a collision with Titus Bramble and into that extraordinary row with Jose Mourinho.

The injury to his ankle forced the German international to miss the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool and he has not appeared for Chelsea since that 0-0 draw with Newcastle on April 22.

Mourinho demanded Ballack's dismissal after he underwent an unauthorised operation under expert guidance from the worldrenowned German Dr Hans Muller-Wolfahrt just five days later. Ballack, and his agent Michael Bekker, produced a glass jar with the piece of chipped bone to prove his innocence but Mourinho was unmoved.

When Ballack admitted in August he was not sure whether he would be able to participate in Chelsea's Champions League group games, Mourinho demonstrated his ruthless streak and left him out of the club's 23-man squad.

Ballack felt insulted but after completing his rehabilitation with the reserves, it is payback for a player who arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2006 as the best central midfield player in the world.

Chelsea manager Avram Grant, who confirmed Ballack's return to the squad yesterday, said: "I've met a few players in my life who don't want to play but when you're injured you're desperate to come back.

"Ballack has improved physically in the last six weeks. He's a good player, he knows how to score and he knows how to make assists. These are the kind of players I like.

"He can play in many positions and with other good players such as Frank Lampard."

That did not appear to be the case when Ballack was paired alongside Lampard last season. Lampard responded to the German's arrival with a purple patch that left no one in any doubt who held the upper hand.

Although Ballack was among nine players mischievously labelled by Mourinho as an 'Untouchable', the former Bayern Munich midfielder struggled to settle at Stamford Bridge.

He was sent off during Chelsea's 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League in September 2006 and was booked 11 times during a frustrating start to his career in London.

His two notable, matchwinning moments were his decisive goals against Porto in the Champions League quarter- final and in the FA Cup semi-final against Blackburn Rovers.

After that it was all downhill fast, but Grant is convinced Ballack will return to the team as a better player. The Chelsea manager said: 'Sometimes the first year in the Premier League is not easy for players coming in from other countries.

"I didn't think that Ballack performed too badly last year. He made his contribution to the team, he was a top player and he still is. He has that desire and has a lot of passion to play again.

"Maybe he even has more desire to play again than he did before."

At 31 and with just under four years left on his contract, there is little to motivate a midfielder who has already achieved so much in the game.

His loyalty to his country is not in question — he was made Germany's captain by national coach Jurgen Klinsmann in 2004 — but there has been precious little to suggest he can live up to his superstar status at Chelsea.

Without skipper John Terry and top striker Didier Drogba in the team to face Liverpool this evening at Stamford Bridge, this might be a good place to start trying.