Abramovich dismayed at speculation

Roman Abramovich is dismayed at the widespread view that his recent absences from Chelsea games have been due to a fractured relationship with the manager, Jose Mourinho, according to a source close to the club's owner.

Abramovich did not attend the 4-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers which booked a place in the League Cup final in Cardiff on February 25th, nor the 2-0 Premiership defeat at Liverpool on Saturday, giving rise to speculation that the rift with Mourinho is widening. But the Russian is concerned that his absence has been interpreted as a symptom of recent difficulties.

"Anybody who thinks Roman is missing Chelsea games because of anything other than his outside commitments is an idiot," claimed the source.

One report this week had suggested that the players had noted his absence "for more than a week" and were speculating that he had "disappeared" due to the blip in form. Abramovich considers such accusations unfair. While his team were losing at Anfield his presence was said to have been required in Russia for business reasons and it was necessary to remain there beyond Tuesday's match.

Abramovich is understood to be in two minds about Chelsea's FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest on Sunday. He was due to arrive in Israel last night for the week-long First Channel Cup, which he also attended last year and has a gala opening tomorrow. His Russian national football academy is a joint organiser of the competition and commitments there may force him to miss the fourth-round tie. The Chelsea owner's attachment to that cup, which involves club teams from Russia, Ukraine and Israel, sheds light on his thinking. Tournament rules dictate that at least half the prize money must be spent on youth development.

It is partly the Russian's desire to expand the influence of Chelsea's youth policy that has created tension with Mourinho, who feels the class of their youth players is inadequate for the first team's requirements. Mourinho has also been angered by the involvement of Frank Arnesen, Chelsea's head of youth development, in first-team affairs and believes that the club should invest in ready-made players to salvage emergency situations, something Abramovich is implacably against after the failures of Maniche and Jiri Jarosik.

Abramovich did recognise that Chelsea are a player light in central defence, with only three recognised centre-halves. Injuries to John Terry and Khalid Boulahrouz have particularly exposed the weakness, and there was speculation that a renewed bid for Bolton's Tal Ben Haim was under way, although their manager, Sam Allardyce, yesterday insisted that the deal is dead. If so, it would not be the first time a Chelsea deal had fallen through during this transfer window. Milan Baros was quoted in the Czech press yesterday saying that a swap involving himself and Shaun Wright-Phillips had been organised only for the England player to pull out.

Baros, who signed a three-and-a-half year deal at Lyon with Norway's John Carew heading for Villa, said he talked to Mourinho after the 0-0 draw at Villa Park on January 2nd. "We just spoke about the match," he said. "Just after the game, in the tunnel, he told me that he wanted me to join the team and asked if I was interested. I told him so. But it did not happen in the end."