Shevchenko prefers to stay with Chelsea

British tabloid The Daily Star claims that the first option of Chelsea forward and Ukrainian international Andriy Shevchenko (31) is to keep on playing at Chelsea next season.

Asked about the rumour linking the striker with a summer move to Barcelona (read more here), a friend of the player is quoted by the tabloid as saying that Shevchenko is already preparing for the start of the new season on Monday:

"Andriy definitely wants to stay at Chelsea and the rumours about a loan move to Barcelona I don’t think are true. He has come back a week early to work on his fitness. It is not because he isn’t fit since he kept in pretty good shape during the holiday. It is just because he wanted to get prepared for the new season under a new manager. Scolari, it seems, has said he wants to have a look at all of the players before making any decisions."

British tabloid The Sun meanwhile claims that the possibility of Shevchenko going on loan to Barcelona has been discussed by Chelsea officials. New Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari would be considering releasing the Ukrainian centre forward.

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Shevchenko offered to Barcelona

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Chelsea forward and Ukrainian international Andriy Shevchenko (31) has been offered to Barcelona.

With Barcelona not able to sign first choice centre forward Adebayor and with other options not going through because of different reasons, Barcelona could look at the possibility to sign Shevchenko, who was already close to Barcelona when he was playing for Dinamo Kiev. Shevchenko could come to Barcelona on a loan or a permanent deal.

Shevchenko is at this moment represented by his wife, former American model Kristen Pazik, who took over from Oscar Damiani. The first contacts with Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain would nevertheless have been made by Ukrainian agent Dimitri Sellyuk, who brought Yaya Touré to Barcelona.

Shevchenko, who knows that new Chelsea manager Scolari won't count on him next season, would be delighted to join Barcelona since he likes the team and the Spanish league. A return to Milan seems difficult for the Ukrainian striker since Milan only wants to pay a minor transfer fee while Chelsea, who paid around 50 million euro for Shevchenko two years ago, wants to see part of that money back.

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