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Ukrainian national team forward Andriy Shevchenko denied once again the rumors that he wants to leave the English champions, London club Chelsea, and return to Italy to represent a team there, but acknowledged that the rumors were fueled by his not very successful performance.
"It means that there are opinions and criticisms, and I respect that. I always give 100%, I am focused and hungry for victories for Chelsea, a club that I fully respect," said the 30-year-old player acquired for £30 million from Milan over the summer, on the official website of the London club.
Despite Shevchenko scoring just three goals in 13 Premier League matches so far and not standing out in the match against Bolton, team coach Jose Mourinho defended his player: "It was a very positive performance. Honestly, goals don't matter to me, I evaluate players based on other things. He knows how I think about football, and I will support him as much as possible."
Earlier, the rumors were also denied by AC Milan's vice president Adriano Galliani on the club's official website: "There have been no negotiations with Chelsea at the moment regarding Andriy Shevchenko's return to our team."
The biggest obstacle to such a transfer is the limit on foreign players - Italian clubs can only acquire one non-EU citizen per season from abroad, and AC Milan has already reached this quota by purchasing Ricardo Oliveira from Sevilla, so a deal could only happen in January if the club sells a foreign player.
