http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,46-1123095,00.html
Thursday 12th February 2004
Portsmouth's on-loan midfielder Alexei Smertin admits he wants to
return to parent club Chelsea in the summer and insists he was not
signed by The Blues as a favour.
The Russian international is spending the campaign at Fratton Park
after being shipped out by the West Londoners not long after arriving
from Bordeaux.
There have been suggestions that the transfer was merely a favour
by Blues owner Roman Abramovich for his compatriot Alexander Mamut but
this has been refuted by Smertin.
The 28-year-old concedes he has barely spoken to Chelsea boss
Claudio Ranieri but he is determined to return to Stamford Bridge and
force his way in to the club's expensively assembled team.
"'I've only met Mr Ranieri once," acknowledged Smertin. "I had a
chat with him in the summer before I came to Portsmouth but we haven't
spoken since.
"I've met Mr Abramovich but only as the president of Chelsea and I
do not know him personally.
"I would like to go back to Chelsea in the summer, and as far as I
know I will have three years there.
"I was sent to Portsmouth for a year and will go back to Chelsea. I
consider myself a Chelsea player but at least Portsmouth play in the
same colours."
Smertin's initial intended destination when he was due to leave
Bordeaux last summer was a return to Russia with Torpedo Moscow, whom
Mamut was attempting to purchase.
But that deal collapsed, and with it Smertin's move back home,
although the tigerish midfielder is adamant he was not signed by
Abramovich to compensate for missing out on a switch to Torpedo.
"My journey to England was a rather complex one but I'm glad I made
it," he continued.
"There's no truth in the story I was bought as a favour, that wasn't
the situation at all. Mamut did not sell me to Abramovich. Nobody sold me
from Torpedo and Chelsea bought me from Bordeaux. I still had a contract
with Bordeaux and no one from Moscow was involved.
"For any footballer today to be invited to play for Chelsea is a great
honour and that applies to me, too. I wasn't disappointed to be sent to
Portsmouth and it's a learning experience for me.
"If I was at Chelsea I wouldn't be playing every week but here I'm
always in the team which is great for my development as a player."
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