Chelsea are ready to cut their ties and lose over £4 million on their Dutch international defender after agreeing a fee with Bundesliga side Stuttgart.

Khalid Boulahrouz arrived in London from Hamburg for a reported €12 million (£8.5 million) in 2006, but failed to live up to his hefty transfer fee. He was shipped off to Sevilla last season, where he struggled for form and fitness. However, Die Roten are willing to gamble on him and have agreed a free of around €5 million (£4 million) to bring the Dutch defender, nicknamed “Khalid the Cannibal” for his aggressive style, back to the Bundesliga. Stuttgart manager Armin Veh told German newspaper Bild

He is just the man we were lacking.

He is one who is not scared of getting involved when needed.

Stuttgart will hope he can recreate his form between 2004 and 2006 at Hamburg that prompted Chelsea to shell out so much and not his form of picking up red and yellow cards.

Will Chelsea fans be happy to see the back of this flop? Or was he just never given enough time at Stamford Bridge?

Arsene Wenger has once again scoured the continent to bring young, French players to the Emirates Stadium. After Samir Nasri’s move from Marseille [Read the rest of this entry »]

Having seen this player in the flesh, I can guarantee that he’s been a class act in the Bundesliga for many seasons. [Read the rest of this entry »]

German international goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is out of Arsenal: that according to Sky Sports and Borussia Dortmund. The German club has confirmed that agreements have been reached with the 38-year goalkeeper and that this month the player is return to the club that he spent four years at before joining the Londoners.

This is what Dortmund manager Michael Zorc told the German newspaper Bild:

All things between us and Lehmann have now been agreed and we are in constant contact. They have nothing to do with BVB, we are all in financial agreement.

However Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed such claims as declared by the German club. The player himself hasn’t said anything but there’s little doubt that Lehmann would be the happiest person in the world to leave the Emirates.

Since the start of this season, Lehmann has constantly discovered himself warming the substitutes’ bench. He has played only a handful of games as manager Wenger has made it obvious that he prefers Manuel Almunia. The move to Dortmund would guarantee Lehmann more starts and that should ensure that he gets to play for Germany in the Euro 2008 finals in the summer.

Watch Arsenal live online