By dixon9
March 29 2009

Some sections of the media (The Daily Mail and The People) are claiming that Chelsea will make summer moves for Aston Villa’s Ashley Young and young Man City striker Daniel Sturridge. The justification for these claims is that both players see Chelsea as a vehicle to fulfil their potential in Europe and internationally as they will play football at the highest level in the Champions League.

Certainly, in the case of Ashley Young, that could theoretically still be achieved at his present club should Aston Villa begin to reverse recent fortunes in the league and leap-frog Arsenal although Sturridge at City will be  confined to UEFA Cup (or The Europa League as it will soon be called) football at most next season.

Sounds plausible from the Champions League angle I suppose although there are no quotes at all in these reports and if its Champions League football which is the reason for the moves then why not any other of the top 4 clubs?

Both players are British and there could be a further clue – Platini appears to be nearing his wish to restrict player movement in European football with what should be an illegal restriction with the 6+5 rule.

Young is claimed to be the replacement for French international winger Florent Malouda who is rumoured to have been targeted by Juventus – how this fits in with Chelsea’s almost certain move for Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow isn’t clear.

Young has been left out of the most recent England squad whilst Sturridge would obviously like to stake a claim as quickly as possible before the next World Cup.

City´s Sturridge is young forward who is seen as a jewel yet to be polished at City and I couldn’t see them letting him go without a demand of a good pound of flesh travelling up there in the opposite direction - that said Sturridge´s contract at City runs out in the summer and is so determined to move that money doesn’t appear to be enough to keep him at Eastlands.  He has most recently rejected a big contract offer there. 

As per usual in these cases, time will tell if these rumours have any foundation.