Chelsea consider making bid for Begovic

CHELSEA HAVE expressed an interest in the Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic as their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, considers his options as back up to his injured number one net-minder Petr Cech.

Henrique Hilario is Ancelotti’s current first-choice back-up ahead of Ross Turnbull and the Portuguese was given the starting nod at Wembley in the Community Shield against Manchester United.

However, both goalkeepers have made errors during the pre-season and have looked shaky at times, forcing Ancelotti to consider whether a new signing might offer more stability.

Begovic, 23, has the added advantage of qualifying as a home-grown player because, despite his Bosnian nationality, he moved to Portsmouth on a youth contract in 2003.

That means that although he had loans spells at Macclesfield Town, Bournemouth and Yeovil Town before he turned 21, he has spent the required three years before that birthday training at the academies of English clubs.

Chelsea have only five home-grown players at present – John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Michael Mancienne and Turnbull – meaning that, with the Premier League’s new regulations stipulating that clubs must name eight such players in a senior squad of no more than 25, Ancelotti stands to play the first half of the season with only 22 senior players.

With Ramires, Benfica’s Brazil midfielder, set to move to Stamford Bridge, Ancelotti has his full compliment of 17 senior overseas players.

Were he to sign Begovic, he would have the option to loan out Hilario to free up a space for another overseas signing.

Chelsea have been linked with a move for the Benfica defender David Luiz.

Cech tore a calf muscle last month and he was ruled out of the pre-season friendlies against Ajax, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg. His total pre-season playing time amounts to a mere 30 minutes in the opening fixture against Crystal Palace.

But the Chelsea boss says Cech will be fit to face West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League opener at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Begovic cost €4.2 million when he moved from Portsmouth to Stoke in last winter’s transfer window, a reflection of his ability and potential, but he was unable to dislodge Thomas Sorensen as the manager Tony Pulis’s first choice.

He made four appearances at the end of the season, after Sorensen injured his shoulder against Chelsea.

Ramires’s proposed €26 million move has been held up by red tape.

The 23-year-old, who has had his Chelsea medical, is just short of having played the required 75 per cent of his country’s internationals in the last two years and his application for a work permit might not be straight-forward. Chelsea believe the process will begin on Thursday.

Before that, Ramires has been selected to play for Brazil in a game against the United States in New Jersey.