A week ago I asked you, the readers, if Chelsea needed to sign a short-term replacement for Essien. A hefty 44 percent of you said we should ink free agent Stephen Appiah if he were interested. Some 43 percent of you said we need not delve into the market.

Well, neither of you got your wish.

Click to continue reading...

To fill the void left by the injured Michael Essien, the Chelsea powers that be have signed Brazilian midfielder Mineiro.

The 33 year old will take over the Makelele/Essien spot now a void space for the Blues.

'I say to fans of Chelsea, if they remember (Claude) Makelele, Mineiro is the same.

Click to continue reading...

Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure has today admitted he turned down a move to Premier League giants Arsenal.

The brother of Arsenal defender Kolo has today claimed both Arsene Wenger and his brother were trying to persuade him to move to England and sign for the Gunners but Yaya wasn't interested. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez is a charitable chap but his latest comparison between an Anfield failure and a current club hero barely needs to be made! Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager! With Javier Mascherano rapidly assuming Claude Makelele's coveted mantle as the best holding midfielder around, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has . Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Andrei Shevchenko (AC Milan), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen, loan), Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Andrei Shevchenko (AC Milan), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen, loan), Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Andrei Shevchenko (AC Milan), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen, loan), Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar. Click to continue reading...

Here's the list for our World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Austria. These games make me nervous. After watching Austria in Euros, I'm thinking that they especially are underrated and could deliver a shock. (Like they did in that friendly with Italy last week. As my co-blogger Chris said, they scored four goals!

Click to continue reading...

If you've been following the conversations in the comments on this blog, you know that last week Sébastien Frey followed in David Trezeguet's footsteps and announced his international retirement.

You also know that Frey is 28. Which is... Well, it may not be infancy for a goalkeeper, but it's not exactly retirement age either.

Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen, loan), Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar (Portsmouth, loan). Robinho still in the club's sight. Click to continue reading...

CHELSEA Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar (Portsmouth, loan). Possibilities: Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Shaun Wright-Philips (Portsmouth) Didier Drogba. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar (Portsmouth, loan). Possibilities: Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Shaun Wright-Philips (Portsmouth) Tal Ben. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar (Portsmouth, loan). Possibilities: Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Shaun Wright-Philips (Portsmouth) Tal Ben Haim's. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa), Ben Sahar (Portsmouth, loan). Possibilities: Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Philips (Portsmouth) Manchester City are. Click to continue reading...

One of the great things about football, one of the things that in my opinion is fundamental in sustaining the umbilical cord that acts as a near permanent bond between team and fan, is the consistency with which the chance arises for a club to reinvent itself and with it renew interest from both fans and onlookers. Click to continue reading...

Look who's back in France. Ludovic Giuly and Claude Makelele have moved to Paris and put on the PSG uniform. Rumor is that Louis Saha may soon follow. Interesting strategy on the part of the hugely troubled PSG. Fill the team with aging-yet-loved returning prodigal internationals. If Click to continue reading...

Ferguson said that he did not expect to see "outstanding progress coming from a team in their 30s". But Blues midfielder Ballack, 31, said: "Our team can still improve. If you are 30 or 31 you are not old.

"Claude Makelele was 34 and played well last season. This sort of banter occurs between people during the summer.

Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa). Possibilities: Frank Lampard (Inter Milan), Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Philips (Portsmouth) Drogba still on. Click to continue reading...

As you may have noticed (or perhaps you haven't), I haven't blogged much in July. That's partly due to a very busy schedule outside of the wonderful of European soccer (yes, I do have a life outside of The Soccer Haus, believe it or not), but mostly it's due to a surprisingly quiet summer in the transfer market. Click to continue reading...

CHELSEA Notable arrivals: Deco (Barcelona), Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto) Notable departures: Claude Makelele (PSG), Steve Sidwell (Aston Villa). Possibilities: Frank Lampard (Inter Milan), Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Tal Ben-Haim (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Philips (Portsmouth) Blues confident on Brazilian signing Click to continue reading...

Some interesting news from the French Football League as Paris St. Germain have signed both Claude Makelele and Ludovic Giuly for next season. On the surface these seem like good signings, but I think it might be about time that Paris St. Germain start to develop a more long term plan for success. They have the potential to be one of the biggest clubs in Europe by playing in Paris with virtually no competition in terms of other big clubs to draw fans away from them (unlike London or Moscow for example). Click to continue reading...

Claude Makelele is leaving Chelsea to join PSG. The 35-year-old holding midfielder is the second major signing for the French club, who fought relegation all last season. Richard Wright is off from West Ham after the keeper agreed to a... Click to continue reading...

The summer transfer window is well and truly open for business right now, as managers set about compiling their squads for the upcoming football season. With clubs around Europe generally showing about as much thriftiness as Roman Abramovich's girlfriend on a shopping spree in Knightsbridge, Just-Football will be periodically taking a look around the world and assessing those we believe are Click to continue reading...

Premiership Talk was the first to announce that Claude Makelele was leaving Chelsea for Paris St. Germain on Friday, and today he was unveiled in Paris. Makelele is the first big name player to leave under new manager Felipe Scolari's tenure.

More Chelsea exits are expected to follow - especially with Didier Drogba's future unclear. Click to continue reading...

Claude Makélélé is all set to be announced a Paris St Germain player this afternoon, after five good years in the Premier League with Chelsea. It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of a man who has a position named after him. The defensive midfield role exited pre-CM and will exist post-CM, but it's now [. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele has today bowed out of the Premier League after four years in England. He signed for the Londoners in 2004 from Real Madrid for a fee of £16.8 million and has since then become a firm fan favourite at Stamford Bridge. The French star has signed for Paris St German after a very successful spell at the Blues. Click to continue reading...

It was an interesting weekend in the soccer world to say the least.

From the New England Revolution's flight to remember, to the big fan brawl at the Columbus Crew-West Ham friendly, there was plenty of off-field activity to talk about. Fortunately, there was also some on-field stuff to talk about as well, including the completion of SuperLiga group play and the MLS schedule, which finished with five ties (yes, all five games this week finished tied).

Click to continue reading...

Claude Makelele will end his five-year spell at Chelsea by completing a move to Paris St Germain. Click to continue reading...

Il Paris Saint Germain pensa in grande e, dopo Giuly dalla Roma, si prepara ad accogliere anche Claude Makelele. Secondo L'Equipe, l'acquisto del 35enne centrocampista francese del Chelsea dovrebbe essere ufficializzato nei primi giorni di settimana prossima. Il giocatore avrebbe già trovato l'accordo per un contratto biennale. Click to continue reading...

"I think Claude has this kind of gift - he's been the best player in the team for years but people just don't notice him, don't notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew, the players all knew he was the most important.

Click to continue reading...

Claude Makelele appears to be the first Chelsea player to leave under new manager Luis Felipe Scolari. The French international is in Paris ahead of his scheduled medical on Saturday. Paris St. Germain have been strongly linked with the 35 year old this summer and the paperwork should be signed early next week. Click to continue reading...

David Bentley
There could be an almighty scrap on the cards for David Bentley, if the tabs are to be believed.

The Mail on Sunday claims Spurs are preparing a £15million bid, but they may face competition from Everton, who are rather scared there may be some truth in those Mikel Arteta to Atletico Madrid rumours. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea trio Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele all look as though they could complete moves away from Stamford Bridge in the next few weeks.

Drogba is thought to be a top target of Real Madrid manager Bernt Schuster this transfer window with the La Liga Champions looking to splash out up to £20 million on the striker. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea Ladies sign Arsenal Pair
Power in the Premier League, ladies that is, may be shifting. Chelsea has inked a pair of former Gunners, Lianne Sanderson and Anita Asante. Both were considered shock exits from Arsenal, which has dominated the women's league for decades. Sanderson has been the Prem's top scorer the past two seasons.

Click to continue reading...

The Scolari era at Chelsea has officially begun.

New Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has landed Portuguese midfielder Deco from Barcelona for an undisclosed fee. Deco joined is new team on Monday.

Deco's arrival makes an already crowded Chelsea central midfield even more congested.

Click to continue reading...