Mutu Deal Off

Mutu's agent had earlier claimed that a deal was "99.9 percent certain" but, as is often the case in football, nothing is a dead cert! It is thought that Mutu had requested the move after discovering that Didier Drogba, Mateja Kezman and Eidur Gudjohnsen were all ahead of him in the striking pecking order.

But he will now spend the remainder of his contract in West London, according to his agent. Giovanni Becali revealed "Mutu will be a Chelsea player for the next four years.

"Chelsea wanted the first option on the future transfer of Mutu but the Juventus directors rejected the proposal."

And Chelsea confirmed the news with the following statment: "Chelsea has been unable to agree a deal with Juventus for the loan of Adrian Mutu and he will be reporting on Saturday for treatment on his groin strain.

"News stories on Thursday that Adrian's loan move was 99.9% sure of going through were not right, and he will continue to work on recovery from the (groin) injury which prevented him from being selected for the final two games in the USA.

"He is unlikely to be fit for the game against Real Zaragoza on Sunday."

Good news for certain quarters of the Chelsea support, who idolise Mutu! But I'm not so sure too many will be pleased he is staying after the way in which he tried to manufacture a move away from the club, just weeks after revealing how happy he was to be giving things another go!