ZHIRKOV KNEE TROUBLES

Chelsea’s marquee signing over the summer was the £18m acquisition of Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow, but since his arrival he has played a whole 20 minutes of competitive football.

‘I suffered a painful blow on the knee early in the game against Germany,’ Zhirkov said to Paris Sportifs.

‘It ached a little afterwards, but there was no sign of a continuing problem.’

The problem with his right knee just won’t go away, and the problem is that no-one knows what is causing it. When he looked like he was close to full recovery he was allowed to join the Russia team to face Germany in a crucial World Cup Group match, and it seems that he aggravated the injury straight away.

Again it looked like the problem went away, he was finally picked to play Atletico Madrid in last weeks Champions League match, and, again, the problem returned.

‘After the match with Atletico, the knee swelled up terribly and the doctors couldn’t explain exactly what was happening.

‘There was even a theory that my body was reacting to a complete change in climate, food and every else.’

‘There was talk of an operation, but now, after pumping out liquid on the knee, it is more or less normal, thank God’