Eriksson shadow over bid for Veron

14 April 2012

Chelsea will sign Juan Sebastian Veron in the next 48 hours, further fuelling speculation that England coach Sven Goran Eriksson is being lined up to take over at Stamford Bridge.

Eriksson has already met Chelsea's new billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, who offered him the chance to succeed Claudio Ranieri as manager.

Abramovich's £ 14million move for Argentina midfielder Veron is a surprise, considering how he has struggled to justify his £28.1m move to Manchester United two years ago in a British record deal at the time. But Eriksson is one of Veron's biggest admirers.

When the Swede was in charge of Lazio, he paid Parma £17.5m to buy Veron and only last summer described him as 'the complete footballer. He can do everything'.

The theory that Eriksson is already masterminding Chelsea's transfer policy was reinforced by the identity of Abramovich's biggest target of all. The Russian is preparing a £50m bid for Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, the linchpin of Eriksson's England side.

Liverpool were last night adamant that they would not listen to any offer for Gerrard, 23.

Contrary to reports over the weekend, Abramovich is not interested in signing Roma striker Francesco Totti and the suggestion that he was prepared to offer a £100m fee for Arsenal's Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry can also be discounted.

A source close to Abramovich said yesterday: 'The market has changed significantly. Enormous fees are now out of the question and nobody should be fooled that they can pull the wool over Mr Abramovich's eyes.

'He is a very shrewd man and is getting the best possible advice on the market value of all the players he is interested in. All of those being pursued are on the list given to him by Claudio Ranieri, so there is no question of him acting without the knowledge of his coach.'

Chelsea chief executive Trevor Birch tried to dampen speculation about Eriksson last night. He said: 'There is no truth in the rumour that we are trying to bring Sven Goran Eriksson to Chelsea.

'Claudio Ranieri is the coach, he has four years remaining on his contract, he has just got us into the Champions League and has already had a very positive meeting with Roman Abramovich.'

This may well be true, but most of the players who Chelsea are chasing meet with the approval of Eriksson, whose advice has clearly been sought and who may be the manager in waiting at Stamford Bridge once his sojourn with England is concluded, possibly before next summer's European Championship in Portugal.

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Eriksson shadow over bid for Veron

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