John Terry is a great player and in some ways we are quite similar We are both fighters. I don’t see there being any problem.” Indeed that “fighting spirit” attracted him to Stamford Bridge. “I’ve heard the reports on that,” the unflappable Ballack said. “But you have to remember he’s Chelsea’s captain and representative and I’ve a lot of respect for him as a world-class player.”But the game is about winning and the will to win I wanted to win and losing to Chelsea was hard But these things happen It’s like ‘mind games’ You just have to think back to the Vieira-Keane incident It’s all part of football. In the final analysis Chelsea’s aims for the coming years were attractive.”He was, nevertheless, reminded of a clash he had with John Terry in the tunnel after Chelsea had knocked Bayern out of the Champions’ League. “But really I saw the possibilities of Chelsea being much greater.

It’s a stronger team and also London has its attractions especially as I have a family. England was his destination because of its burgeoning competitiveness – the midfielder cited Liverpool winning the European Cup last season and Arsenal being in the final this – over other nations he had considered where he could play football “in the sun”.Ballack was hardly short of suitors Both here and elsewhere “Manchester United came in quite early for me,” he said. After tax.
But Ballack denied the move was about money – “in any league I could have earned well”, he said – and insisted that it was purely about sporting ambition and trying out life in another country. The 29-year-old German has agreed a three-year deal with Chelsea on a free transfer from Bayern Munich. The split, after four seasons in Bavaria, has been as acrimonious as it is lucrative for Ballack, who will add a seven-figure signing-on fee – spread over the duration of his contract – to his substantial salary The deal is thought to work out at £121,000 a week. The Arsenal striker sneaked into the national squad despite failing to make a first-team appearance for the Gunners since his £12m January switch from Southampton.. With an easy urbanity and an even more assured sense of confidence, Michael Ballack yesterday settled into life as the Premiership’s highest-paid footballer by dismissing the merits of Manchester United over Chelsea and declaring his main aim in coming to England was to win the Champions’ League over domestic trophies.

Walcott, 17, travelled to England’s World Cup training camp in Portugal yesterday after his unexpected inclusion in Sven Goran Eriksson’s 23-man squad last week. Stuart Pearce, the Manchester City manager, has admitted that he blew the chance to sign the England striker Theo Walcott for just £3m last summer. Though his impressive CV still lacks a league championship medal, Dalglish believes the Anfield captain’s ability to cajole his team-mates from the brink of defeat against Milan last season, against Alan Pardew’s team on Saturday and his influence on securing Champions’ League qualification under G?rd Houllier has established Gerrard as the dominant individual at club level.. Gerrard’s performance against West Ham United in Cardiff established the 25-year-old as the only Liverpool player to score in the final of the European Cup, FA Cup, Uefa Cup and League Cup. A counter-argument may be a day away in Paris but the Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish embellished the tributes to Steven Gerrard yesterday when he insisted that, whatever Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho produce in the European Cup final, they will not surpass the England international as the most influential footballer at work today. The club is pursuing French defender Pascal Chimbonda, for whom a £2m bid was rejected by Wigan, while Bayer Leverkusen’s Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov has already signed for £10.7m.The four-year shirt deal is worth a minimum of £34m over four seasons until 2009-10 and includes a £1.5m contribution to Spurs’ community scheme aimed at helping young people in the local area.Tottenham’s new Puma playing kit will be unveiled to fans in the summer and Mansion will become only the fourth brand ever to appear on their shirts in the 25 years since sponsors were first permitted..