Chelsea set to sell Andriy Shevchenko but deny Franck Ribery bid

Simon Johnson
28 Aug 2009

Carlo Ancelotti expects Andriy Shevchenko to leave Chelsea before the transfer window closes but denied reports he had made a £57million bid for Franck Ribery.

Shevchenko is set for talks with his first club, Dynamo Kiev, after Ancelotti told the striker he could not be guaranteed regular first-team football.

The Ukraine international has played only four minutes for Chelsea since returning this summer from a season's loan at AC Milan.

The manager said: "It's difficult for me to give him the possibility to play a lot of matches.

"I don't know if any clubs are in for him. He will take the decision of where to go. It's not our problem to choose the right club for him."

Ancelotti believes Shevchenko's departure will be the only movement either in or out of the club before Tuesday's 5pm transfer deadline and insisted Chelsea have not made another attempt to sign Bayern Munich star Ribery.

He added: "It's not true. We have no news of a player coming to Chelsea."

Although Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov, who have had knee injuries, will miss tomorrow's game at Burnley Ancelotti hopes to have both back to face Stoke in a fortnight.

He said: "Joe started to train with us on Tuesday and we have to put him in the squad at the right time.Now is not the right time to do that but after the international games we can be more precise. He is very close to playing.

"Zhirkov is also a little better and will go away with the Russian national team. If it is possible he will play for them."

Ancelotti's first priority is to try and get the better of Burnley, who knocked Chelsea out of the Carling Cup last season.

The Italian said: "I haven't seen the game but every match is different. This is not about revenge, the players just want to play and to win. They've had a very good start and I saw them beat Manchester United and Everton."