Ancelotti aims to be special in own right

NEW CHELSEA coach Carlo Ancelotti insists he can be as popular as former manager Jose Mourinho. The Italian is the fourth manager in the Stamford Bridge hot seat since Mourinho left in September 2007 – having won every domestic competition.

Only the Champions League crown eluded the “Special One” during his successful spell at Chelsea. Since then Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Ray Wilkins and Guus Hiddink have all taken turns in charge.

Now Ancelotti is determined to become as popular and as successful as Mourinho and is not afraid of the challenge ahead.

“I think Mourinho is a great coach because he won a lot of trophies but it’s not a war between Mourinho and me,” said Ancelotti. “It’s normal that he is popular in Chelsea because he won the Premier League but I also want to win it. I also want to be popular with the fans. I’m not sure if the period of time here will be long or short but I want the people to remember me.”

Ancelotti’s most immediate chance of winning over the fans is to end the uncertainty over the future of his captain, John Terry. The defender is still being courted by Manchester City although Chelsea insist that he is not for sale at any price.

City have already had a €35 million bid rejected by Chelsea but are expected to return with an even higher offer if they feel relations between Terry and the club become strained.

Terry returned from his summer break yesterday and held talks with Ancelotti at the club’s Cobham training ground. He is also believed to have spoken with club director Eugene Tenenbaum, although chief executive Peter Kenyon and owner Roman Abramovich were not in attendance.

Chelsea have already scoffed at suggestions that they failed to keep Terry in the loop over City’s interest and insist there has been no major change to the player’s stance since City first declared their interest last January.

A month later, Terry issued a statement saying he wanted to remain with the club for life and thanked Chelsea for their support.

The London club do not feel there is any reason to issue another statement.

It is difficult to see Terry giving up another chance to win the Champions League by moving to City and even his alleged anxiousness over the lack of quality additions to the Chelsea squad is unlikely to force him out of the door.

Instead, he is more likely to press Chelsea, via his advisor Aaron Lincoln, to offer him a new, more lucrative contract, with wages closer to Manchester City’s much reported €230,000-a-week.

Chelsea remain confident that they will succeed in bringing more quality players to the club before the transfer window closes next month and will start negotiations over a new deal for Terry very shortly.

After the FA Cup final victory over Everton last May, Terry said he hoped the club would bring in players of the quality and class of David Villa and Franck Ribery.

But so far, goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, teenage striker Daniel Sturridge and Russia left-back Yuri Zhirkov have been the only additions to a squad that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season and won the FA Cup.

Meanwhile, and despite what Ancelotti had to say yesterday, Mourinho took a swipe at the former AC Milan coach yesterday as Inter began their pre-season training. The Portuguese expressed his irritation that Ancelotti claimed in his unveiling at Stamford Bridge last week that he does not know who the “Special One” is.

Mourinho, who introduced himself in those terms when he was first unveiled as Chelsea coach, said: “Now they say of him (Ancelotti) in England that he is Prince Charles. But I only know one Prince Charles, and that is the Prince of Wales. Ancelotti is no friend of mine.”

Mourinho added that so far things have not gone according to plan in the transfer market for his team. Inter had been linked with Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho, but it appears the Portuguese defender will not be moving to the San Siro.

They signed former Genoa duo Thiago Motta and Diego Milito as well as ex-Chievo attacking midfielder Kerlon. Ricardo Quaresma has also returned to the San Siro after a six-month loan spell at Chelsea.

“Inter’s squad?” It’s complete,“ he said. “We have blondes, brown, black and white – I think it’s difficult that anyone else will arrive.

“The market has brought few euros to the Inter accounts, and this is the reality. When a club doesn’t make money, its coach has to be pragmatic. It’s not the roster I dreamed about two or three months ago. But I cannot make miracles – I am not Harry Potter.”