Why I’d like to see Sheva be a sucess in the Premier League

By: Rob | June 22nd, 2009

So apparently despite interest from Roma, Andriy Shevchenko intends to see out his Chelsea contract and prove his worth, assuming he isn’t forced out by the club. Good on him. For a multitude of reasons, I genuinely hope he’s a success, and finally blows away the last couple of torrid years.

Firstly, he’s always seemed a class act. Compare him to…say…Chelsea’s other strikers, Didier “Its a disgrace” Drogba, and Nicky “Le Sulk” Anelka. Imagine they had been signed for £30m somewhere and then proceeded to have their confidence and reputation battered by a know-it-all Portuguese who didn’t want him in the first place? Anelka would have sulked and just not turned up when he was picked, Drogba would have been mentioning the word “Milan” at an alarming rate in press conferences. Sheva pretty much kept his head down and tried to get on with it.

Second, it would give less ammunition to the boorish Premier League is the Best Thing Ever brigade. Most sensible people know that while the Premier League has indisputably had a good couple of years in the sun now, things are always going to shift around (arguably already are now that Real Madrid are buying Everybody Who Might Be Considered World Class) but arguments about the superiority of the Premier League often come down to the fact that some players just don’t cut it over here.

Diego Forlan has been a massive success in Spain while he is mostly remembered badly here, Juan Sebastian Veron won Serie A with Lazio, but was considered a flop for Man United (and then Chelsea). Sheva similarly came with a (well earned) massive reputation from his time in Milan, but his goalscoring record at Chelsea leaves alot to be desired.

If he could tip the scales back in his favour and have a really good season it’d give them one less argument at least. And lets be clear, its a stupid argument.

Lastly, I remember the excitement of Sheva’s arrival. Here was a player I had admired from afar for so long, and here he was! We were going to see a genuine world class goalscoring machine week in week out. Lets be honest, for whatever reason (I still think it was mostly Jose), he didn’t really do it.

I’m hoping for a happy ending.