Yuri Zhirkov is due in London on Wednesday to complete an £18m move to Chelsea from CSKA Moscow in what the club hope will prove to be the first eye-catching signing in a busy period of transfer activity in and out of Stamford Bridge.
Zhirkov was recommended to Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's owner, by Guus Hiddink, the interim manager for the final three months of last season, but will effectively become Carlo Ancelotti's first signing after the Premier League club deflected interest from Barcelona, to secure the 25-year-old Russian.
He will be followed by the Middlesbrough goalkeeper Ross Turnbull and Manchester City's Daniel Sturridge, though a tribunal will need to set the fee for the young striker after the clubs failed to compromise over the compensation due.
Chelsea have moved impressively to secure Zhirkov, a player whose performances en route to the final at Euro 2008 caught the eye and who can operate at left-back, where they were short of options behind Ashley Cole, and on the left of midfield. He is due to sign a four-year contract and will meet his new team-mates at pre-season training on Monday.
Joe Cole, who will compete for a berth on the left of midfield with Zhirkov and Florent Malouda, has spent the summer largely at the club's Cobham base – a brief honeymoon aside – as he steps up his rehabilitation from the knee injury sustained in January. He ruptured a cruciate ligament but the player is hopeful he will be fit enough to take part in the club's pre-season tour of the US, which starts in three weeks.
Cole is expected to open talks on a new contract – he has a year to run on his deal – and he should be joined by Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba in signing new terms. The Ivorian's appeal against the six-match ban imposed upon him by Uefa, together with the four-match sanction received by Jose Bosingwa, was submitted to European football's governing body today. The club released a statement claiming the punishments, which included a fine of £85,000 for failing to control their players and for the behaviour of their supporters following their Champions League elimination to Barcelona last month, was "unnecessarily harsh given the circumstances".
"We would reiterate that the players and the club are acutely aware of our responsibilities towards setting a good example as role models and upholding the values of the game," confirmed a spokesman. "That is why honest and sincere apologies were made swiftly after these regrettable incidents occurred."
