In my opinion, German national Michael Ballack must be the unluckiest player to ever grace a football pitch. After missing out on the World Cup through an unfortunate ankle injury, the 33 year old midfielder will no longer be a part of Chelsea’s plans as the London club will not be offering him a new deal to replace his current one that expires at the end of the month.
To be honest, i was never really a Ballack fan, that is until he joined Chelsea. I used to think that he was given way too much credit than he deserved. However, my warped perspective changed the moment i begun to take notice of his phenomenal work rate.
Ballack is the type of player who commands a certain type of aura on the pitch that can only be explained when you watch him play. He might not score the fanciest goals let alone get on the score sheet , but, he is the glue that holds the team together. He was Chelsea’s version of Gattuso.
Although the Londoner’s have a good replacement in John Obi Mikel, Ballack’s wealth of experience will be greatly missed.Since joining the Blues 4 years ago, Ballack has won the Premiership trophy once, the FA Cup three times and missed out on a host of opportunities to win that coveted Champions League winners medal.
It is still not certain where Ballack will be heading to next, however, it is reported that German club Schalke 04 and Real Madrid might be interested in acquiring his services. A move to Los Blancos would see him re-unite with former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho.
A statement on Chelsea’s website read:
“The midfielder has spent four years at Chelsea, and all at the club would like to place on record our thanks for his service and wish him luck for the future,”
A bit to shallow if you ask me, but then again, the German’s performances for Chelsea in that period cannot warrant any rave reviews. There is no doubt that Ballack’s illustrious career is ending, its only a shame it had to end this way.
Photo credit: from Footbo
