

Chelsea
The magic of the FA Cup. The combined furor of two players – and thus two clubs and two sets of support groups – embroiled in an alleged race row.
And, of course, handshake gate revisited.

Not again
Sportsmail strikes again. Though we may have to start giving the masked man/woman/thing a little more credit on the back of breaking the Willian negotiations last week. This time around, the Daily Mail’s journo in the field, with a little help from the Mirror, suggests Chelsea are ready to make key moves for both Paul Pogba and Gregory van der Wiel.

Yes, sensei.
Whoa. I forgot we were still involved in the CL for a second. More, after the jump:

The Shove Heard Round Naples
Some good – and some bad – news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.
We’ll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d’Ivoire in their 2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal’s excellent volley in visual form below.
Buy Belgian. Ho.
We talked yesterday about the club allegedly reentering talks with Racing Genk over the transfer of the young Belgium international Kevin De Bruyne. Those talks (gasp) are actually true.
This according to a spokesman for Genk:
Dirk Degraen is in London and the expectation is that it (the transfer of De Bruyne) will be finished this week. The assumption is that Kevin de Bruyne will be transferred to Chelsea and then will finish the season (on loan) at Genk.
What to do when your squad is underperforming? You take them on vacation to Spain, naturally.

‘What do you mean Gary got lost at baggage claim??’
Not entirely sure about the source material, but Chelsea have allegedly re-engaged in talks with Racing Genk over the transfer of the 20-year-old that looks not a day over 12 – Kevin De Bruyne.

Young Money
Queens Park Rangers apparently can’t afford Alex. Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, certainly can. I guess that solves that then, in my skewed mind at least.

A reunion?
It was, in short, a poor afternoon. Let’s just say our trip to Spain couldn’t have come at a better time. More, after the jump:

Begging for Mercy










