MOSCOW. (Alexander Gorbunov, RIA Novosti)
Watching at least two DVD-fuls of Andriy Shevchenko per week and probably aware that all the money on Earth could not buy him a high-class Russian player for the want of any, FC Chelsea billionaire owner Roman Abramovich is courting the Ukrainian superstar also coveted by MU and Real Madrid.
Abramovich spent his first season with Chelsea sacking one manager and looking for another, a task that seems easy enough with a pot of money under your belt: the Russian simply waited for the Champions League final in which FC Monaco took on FC Porto, silently deciding the winner would have to look for a new coach. Porto won, making Jose Mourinho, a former interpreter without any playing experience whatsoever, the better choice for Chelsea than the seasoned Didier Dechamps, former France national captain and European and World Cup winner.
The Mourinho investment paid back in no time as he took Chelsea to their first League title in 50 years in 2005 - an achievement than fans value probably even higher than the European Cup - and is already set to win the second Premiership title in a row this month. 
Mourinho's European credentials are far weaker. Both Chelsea's Champions League endeavors under his watch have been thwarted, last year by Liverpool in the semifinals and most recently by FC Barcelona in the first knockout round, a disease Abramovich cures with his usual remedy, seeking to buy more stars into a dream-team set for European domination.
The irony is that the billionaire, whose advent was tolerated if not favored, is now promising a pot of gold to any player his manager points at, making clubs across the Premier League and broader Europe increase their players' wages. The wave of resentment has reached as high as FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who recently said that, for some fortunate clubs, "the source of wealth is individuals with little or no history of interest in the game," who, "having set foot in the sport seemingly out of nowhere, proceed to throw pornographic amounts of money at it," remarks all too clearly referring to the FC Chelsea benefactor.
"What they do not understand is that football is more about grass-roots than idols," Blatter prophesied, and it appears some of the idols think so too. Ronaldinho, for one, refused even to pose for a photo next to Abramovich holding a Chelsea shirt, ruling out moving to London altogether.
The same goes for Shevchenko. Judging from his recent public remarks, the 29-year-old striker, who has helped draw his current club AC Milan back into the top tier of Serie A and has played an important role in the first-ever Ukrainian national qualification for World Cup finals, intends to play with Milan until the end of his career.
He sounds strong enough, despite the unthinkable transfer compensation proposed to the club (reportedly £35 million) and equally incredible wage for himself (£100,000 a week). However, the battle for Sheva is probably far from lost. Abramovich has secured a via-a-vis appointment with the AC Milan forward after the World Cup finals in Germany and, as the two are said to be on first name terms, he may well try a comeback.
