Hiddink plays down Chelsea speculation
“We have a project to reshape Russian football by 2014, with the 2010 World Cup as the first phase,” said Hiddink. “Given Abramovich’s long-term commitment and vision, it seems very unlikely that he would try to disrupt that process.”Hiddink also said that any meetings with Abramovich - who contributes towards his salary as national manager - had nothing to do with the Chelsea job. “Since people continually associate me with Roman Abramovich, I thought it would be a good idea to explain a little bit about our relationship,” he said. “I have met him five times: four times in London and once at the PSV [Eindhoven] training complex. As for all those stories about me being a candidate for the Chelsea job, we never discussed it. I know that you can never say never in football, but that option would not have made sense.”Hiddink, whose Russia side face England in a vital Euro 2008 qualifier in Moscow next week, believes the Chelsea shake-up of recent weeks is part of Abramovich’s desire to see his side play attractive football. “At Chelsea, Abramovich has invested a lot of money in players and not so much in longer-term development,” he added. “And you need to be able to show the world that with the players that they have, you can get results, but that you can also play attractive football. I think he felt that the latter was missing.”Meanwhile, Michael Ballack has admitted that he hopes to stay at Chelsea for the rest of his career. Ballack has struggled to make an impact at Stamford Bridge since arriving from Bayern Munich and is currently sidelined with an ankle injury which has kept him out of action since April.But he insists he wants to remain at the club beyond the expiry of his current contract in 2009. “I feel very happy here and would like to end my career here,” he said. “Although I want to end my career at Chelsea, if I am still fit when my contract runs out, why should I not play on for another two years?”Chelsea are also on the brink of reaching an agreement with Henk ten Cate to join their coaching staff. Ten Cate quit his post at Ajax earlier this week after Chelsea agreed a compensation figure with the Dutch club for his services. Chelsea now expect to finalise the deal within the next 24 hours in order for Ten Cate to take up his role under head coach Avram Grant and alongside assistant Steve Clarke. A statement on Chelsea’s official website read: “Chelsea have reached agreement with Ajax for the release of Henk ten Cate. We expect to finalise his contract with Chelsea in the next 24 hours as assistant first-team coach.”
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