Ancelotti Surprised at Decision to Let Ballack go
Michael Ballack, the former Chelsea midfielder, said in an interview that he believed Carlo Ancelotti was against letting him go. The 34-year-old German midfielder featured in 45 games for Chelsea last season and played a crucial part
in their first ever double the English Premier League and the FA Cup. The former Chelsea player was confident that Ancelotti was against him leaving Stamford Bridge over the summer.
The German international was one of the five players who left Stamford Bridge over the summer. Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco and Juliano Belletti were the other players who left during the summer transfer window. Their departure has
undoubtedly affected the Blues performance, even though they got off to a good start, they are now going through a rough patch. With most of their first team players injured, they don’t have a strong enough bench.
Michael Ballack is now back at the German league, with the Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. He revealed that Chelsea boss Ancelotti did not have the final say in the decision of Ballack staying at Stamford Bridge. The German captain said
while speaking to reporters that he was confident that the Italian wanted him to stay, he said, “I had the feeling that when we spoke about it that he wanted to keep me but it became different. And that was the situation.”
The reason for five senior players leaving over the summer was because of owner Roman Abramovich’s plan to reduce the annual wage bill. It was successful as far as the wage bill was concerned; it was trimmed down to £20 million and Ballack
was one of the players whose contract was not renewed. Ballack revealed that he met Ancelotti in America, where the Italian manager was surprised at hearing that Ballack was on his way out.
He said, “We had lunch together. That was the time when the club told me that we would not sign a new contract. Yeah, we spoke about this and I had the feeling that he was a little bit surprised but in the end, that's
football, and that's what I said. It had nothing to do with the relationship with me and the coach or the players or the club. I am professional enough to accept the decision. I have to move on and the club has to move on.”
Ray Wilkins, the former Chelsea assistant manager, had his contract with the Blues terminated last week and Michael Ballack admitted that he was shocked at the decision. He said while speaking on the issues, “I spoke
to Ray and he was disappointed. As a former player from the outside it was a surprise because it is the middle of the season and they are in first position (in the Premier League), with all the success of the past year.”
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