The Guardian report Sir Alex is in good form as we count down to the start of the Premier League season. Liverpool and Arsenal supporters will be heartened that the United gaffer sees them as a threat next term – that’s unless they choose to ignore these carefully calculated words.

“‘Plateau’ is maybe not the word, but how can they [Chelsea] accelerate beyond what they’ve done up to now?” he said. “When you see the ages they’ve got, apart from Salomon Kalou [who is 22] and Mikel John Obi [21], they are an experienced side. I’m not saying necessarily that they’re old because, with the modern-day training methods, you should be playing in your thirties. What I am saying is that I don’t see outstanding progress in a team that’s in their thirties.

“I don’t know Scolari. We played against him when we won the World Club Championship [against Palmeiras in 1999] and he has managed a lot of clubs. But he is experienced, having won the World Cup and managed Portugal, and that’s one thing he has in his favour.”

United have already been installed as favourites to win their 11th Premier League title next term, but Ferguson has warned against expecting a two-horse race between themselves and Chelsea. “I wouldn’t write off Liverpool or Arsenal. Arsenal had a good start last season and that carried right through until they had some injuries. It’s been understated what Arsenal did last season because they got injuries at a bad time.

“In February, they lost most of their midfield – they lost Rosicky, they lost Hleb for a spell and then Eduardo. Who is to say it wouldn’t have been closer if Arsène Wenger had kept his players fit?”

Clearly the neutrals amongst us would love to see a four-horse race next season which goes right to the wire. However, can Arsenal and Liverpool really trouble the Big 2? Will Scolari prove that his Chelsea team are capable of improving on the past performances and successes of his predecessors?

Russian tabloid Tvoi Den is reporting that the billionare owner would like to add some home country flavour to the new squad, and will ask Big Phil to pick a Russian player for his new team.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has told new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari that at least one Russian should be at the club.

The Brazilian now faces a choice between signing one or more of the country’s Euro 2008 heroes from a choice of Andrei Arshavin, Yuriy Zhirkov, Akinfeyev Akinfeyev and Roman Pavlyuchenko. (Tvoi Den)

Of the four names being throw about, you’d have to think that Akinfeyev and Arshavin might be the best options. This isn’t to say that Cech isn’t a great keeper, but if you’re going on someone for the future, then Akinfeyev might be that guy. Arshavin also showed signs of greatness during the Euros, so he also stands a chance of being on Big Phil’s shortlist.

If you were the new Chelsea boss, who would you choose from the Russian bunch? Do you think any of the four listed could make a serious impact on the club during the upcoming season?

Having inherited Alex, Belletti, Ricardo Carvalho, Henrique Hilário and Paulo Ferreira, Scolari has set about signing Deco and allegedly had a hand in bringing Porto right-back Jose Bosingwa to Stamford Bridge. Now it has been revealed that another one of Scolari’s international ‘students’ is in talks to head to Fulham Road.

Real Madrid striker Robinho is reported to be in contact with Scolari’s Chelsea over a £25million move. How credible this claim is depends on your stance on agents, with Robinho’s agent Wagner Riberio leading the claim in Spanish paper AS:

It’s true that Chelsea are interested in signing Robinho. They have been after him for a while and there has been much more contact since Scolari became the new coach.

I met with [Chelsea director, Frank] Arnesen in London and he confirmed to me that Chelsea wanted my player for next season.

The move apparently depends on Real’s outcome in the Cristiano Ronaldo saga. If Ronaldo arrives at the Santiago Bernabéu, Los Blancos will let Robinho move to Chelsea.

It can also be seen as a way of making Real sweat on Robinho’s contract talks. The agent was again in the press this week saying that Real do not value his player high enough and the club stalling in contract negotiations demonstrates this:

Robinho’s priority is to continue at Real Madrid. But he cannot stay in a place in which they don’t recognise his talent and at the moment Real Madrid are not doing that and I’m not talking about money

We don’t like this attitude and we want Madrid to start valuing Robinho because at the moment they’re not.

Whether or not Robinho will arrive at Stamford Bridge remains to be seen, but regardless of the outcome, the agent will have his nice slice of the pie.

The Daily Mail report that the striker has been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, especially as the Blues appear to be failing to land their primary targets of Fernando Torres (was never going to happen) and Kaka. Money would clearly be no object as far as signing the player is concerned, while you can’t imagine his required salary to make sure he can live comfortably in retirement would be a problem either.

But Chelsea are also monitoring events at Arsenal, with Adebayor unhappy over the club’s refusal to meet his demands for a pay rise to £120,000-a-week and expressing a desire to join Barcelona or AC Milan.

That is not the kind of money that worries Chelsea and he is on a list of targets should Scolari suddenly need a replacement for Drogba.

If Ashley Cole got a tough reception upon his return to the Emirates last season, that would be nothing compared to the ire that Adebayor would get if indeed he jumps ship to Chelsea. There’s one thing getting a stack of cash from the likes of Milan and Barcelona, but quite another having the player assisting one of your fiercest rivals in the league.

Sky Sports reports that the Frenchman expects Manchester United to keep hold of their star player, despite it looking for all the world that Real Madrid are going to sign him instead. This will no doubt hearten Red Devils fans – could their number seven be sticking around after all?

He told the Sunday Mirror: “I think Ronaldo will stay at United because I cannot see the club making the kind of statements they have made if they have no assurance from Ronaldo that he will stay.

“Once a club of their stature say he will stay, he has to stay. If he doesn’t stay you look weak, weaker than if you said nothing at all.”

Indeed, Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz will end up with plenty of egg on their faces if the Portuguese forward moves to Spain, although it’s looking likely that he’ll at least be back in Manchester for pre-season training and that’s a step in the right direction. Do you honestly think he’ll be around next term?

Sky Sports reports that the Portsmouth boss is very sweet on Shaun Wright-Phillips, Chelsea’s forgotten man who played just a handful of games for the club last season. Can Redknapp snare him – surely his wages would be a sticking point for any future club?

Redknapp told the Daily Star Sunday: “He’d be a hit here, the fans would love him.

“He’s my type of player, but the problem is whether we can afford him and his wages.

“He will also be anxious to see how his future lies with his new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari.”

Surely there has to be a concern regarding the player’s attitude as well. If he was anything like ambitious, he would surely have taken a pay cut to go and play somewhere else by now. It’s not as if Chelsea would hold clubs to ransom if the winger actually wanted to leave. Would SWP be a good thing for Porsmouth or not?

The Times now report that the German captain has had an increasing say in the tactics of the team, liaising with manager Joachim Low to such an extent that it’s almost as though the Germans have a gaffer on the pich as well as the sidelines (or in the stands as has been the case recently).

“I am more of a captain now,” Ballack said. “I am two years older than in the World Cup and my influence has become greater. I discuss training sessions with the coach more often, as we’ve been working together for four years. We talk often and he asks me what I think. We’ve got to know each other better and better and I’m completely at one with the thoughts of the coach. He knows he can rely on me and I can rely on him.

“After the Croatia defeat, we had an important meeting. As captain, I naturally demanded to discuss our weak points. In certain situations, the team had become a little careless. It only affected us by a few per cent, but it had to be addressed. Everyone had to understand the problems and I dealt with certain players very vigorously, using tougher language than I would have liked. I am not an aggressive guy, but if it concerns the achievement of the national team, then I will show no restraint.”

Chelsea fans will surely be heartened by Ballack’s performances and leadership skills – will it be enough to wrest the captaincy from John Terry? While this might have been unthinkable under the regimes of Avram Grant and Jose Mourinho, a new managerial regime might have fresh ideas and Ballack undoubtedly ticks the right boxes as far as the armband is concerned.

Gilberto Madail, the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, isn’t at all happy with Chelsea’s conduct in the past fortnight. The Guardian report that he lays the blame for his nation’s quarter-final exit squarely at the feet of the west London club, not that they will give a hoot what he has to say we’re sure.

“It wasn’t the best moment for us and for Chelsea to announce Scolari’s appointment,” said Gilberto Madail, the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, in the wake of his team’s 3-2 quarter-final defeat by Germany on Thursday night.

“I know Scolari had nothing to do with it and I was surprised not by the appointment, because Scolari is a great coach, but at the timing chosen. I wish Chelsea would have consulted us before so that we could have chosen a better time.”

Chelsea, however, were bewildered by Madail’s words. “We did everything above board and correctly,” said a club spokesman. “It was the appropriate time for both parties to announce it and it had been agreed in advance. The PFF were informed.”

While it’s often difficult to take Chelsea’s side in these debates, especially as they are prone to rule-breaking, perhaps the president should look closer to home. Indeed, whether the Blues had made an announcement or not, the Portugal keeper would still have been dodgy and the defence would have struggled with set-pieces. Are Chelsea culpable in any way?

Nevertheless, there will be many arguing that it was virtually impossible for Phil Scolari and his Portuguese squad not to be distracted by Chelsea’s announcement that the Brazilian was to become the new manager at the Bridge. It took place on Saturday night, coinciding with Portugal’s 2-0 win against Turkey, and although the Blues then tried to dumb things down, had the damage already been done. Scolari doesn’t think so, according to the good old Daily Record.

He said: “If I hadn’t announced it we would have lost anyway. We lost because we didn’t do things with enough quality.

“I am responsible for choosing the players and putting them on the field in certain places so the person most responsible for Portugal not being in the last four is the Portugal coach.”

Indeed, surely Scolari won’t persist with Paolo Ferreira when it comes to picking the Chelsea team, who looked woefully out of his depth throughout the tournament. He might actually have been heartened last night by the performance of Michael Ballack, who he will hope can boss the midfield in a similar fashion next season. However, the fact remains that this announcement could have waited until Portugal’s Euro 2008 had ended.

The Guardian reveal that the feisty Brazilian has been in touch with none other than Steve Kean about a possible role at Stamford Bridge. Never heard of him? Why, he’s Chris Coleman’s Portuguese-speaking assistant at Coventry City silly, who has decided to turn down the chance of a blatant payrise and a more glamorous role to stay at the West Midlands club instead.

Apparently, Kean spent six years in Portugal as a player with Coimbra and would have acted as a translator between manager and players – who knows, he might have become the new Jose Mourinho!

“There was someone acting on behalf of Scolari who contacted me about a role at Chelsea,” said Kean. “I was very honest and explained that I’m under contract on a very exciting project at Coventry. I immediately phoned Chris [Coleman, the Coventry manager] and Ray [Ranson, the club chairman] to tell them about it and told them why I thought Chelsea had contacted me.

“I can speak Portuguese, I’ve got a lot of experience in the Premier League and I suppose I tick the boxes of what they’re looking for to help Scolari get started over here. That’s probably where it has come from. I have to say I was very flattered by the approach but the simple fact is I’m at Coventry and we are just getting started on something very exciting.”

What’s so exciting at Coventry that has prevented Keano (to his mates) from joining Chelsea? Have he, Coleman and Ranson just started a game of monopoly? I bet Kean has managed to quickly land Mayfair and Park Lane and is just about to build hotels on those squares. Could you walk away from that?