Serie A Betting: Positive signs for Prince of San Siro

European Leagues / Jonathan Wilson / 29 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

As his Chelsea nightmare comes to an end, Andriy Shevchenko will be desperate for a glorious swansong at AC Milan, says Jonathan Wilson.

In one respect, Andriy Shevchenko had the desired effect at Chelsea.

They paid AC Milan £30million, Shevchenko arrived, and for the next season they had on the pitch the best centre-forward in the Premier League. The strange thing was that he was Didier Drogba, who had looked hapless the season before. The dynamics of a squad are never easy to fathom, and that fact gives hope to those who yearn for a great Shevchenko swansong as he limps back to AC Milan. He is, after all, still only 31.

And yet, in popular opinion, he is shot. The painful fact is that he probably is the biggest waste of money in English football history, but if that is his legacy, it is deeply unfair. Between 1999 and 2004, arguably 2006, he was the best striker in the world. He had poise, strength and pace. He could head and strike from long range. He was a clinical finisher, but he also had imagination. And he was even, staggeringly, prepared at times to play second fiddle to Pippo Inzaghi.

In his last two seasons at Dynamo Kyiv, Shevchenko scored 37 goals in 49 games. At Milan he got 127 in seven seasons, making him their second top scorer of all time. His goals and leadership saw Ukraine to World Cup qualification. At the time, the fee Chelsea paid didn't seem outlandish for a player who seemed to guarantee goals, particularly given Drogba's disappointing form.

But eight minutes into a Serie A game at Parma on May 8, Shevchenko suffered a knee injury. As knee injuries go, it didn't seem especially serious, but it did threaten his participation in the World Cup. As is his wont, he worked hard, and insisted he was fit to play in his first major tournament, but he was a disappointment in Germany. And then he arrived at Chelsea, where it was widely assumed that he was Roman Abramovich's signing, a player foisted upon Jose Mourinho. Certainly it was hard to see what role he was expected to play in Chelsea's 4-3-3.

Besides, England is very different to Italy, and, as Andriy Kanchelskis observed of the difficulties he had at Fiorentina after leaving Manchester United, adapting is harder for players late in their careers. "Italian football is about tactics and logic, whereas England is different, it is all about speed and instinct," Shevchenko said.

And so was created a perfect storm. It is far from clear that Shevchenko has ever fully recovered from that knee injury: his time at Chelsea was dogged by back problems that may have been a knock-on effect. He had never previously played in a major tournament, so had never played for a full year without a break. He turned 30 that September, just the age when players seem to start finding it harder to recover from injury and fatigue. And he was being thrust into a new, and perhaps hostile, environment. Mourinho seemed never to rate him. Is it any wonder he underperformed?

So, the question for Milan ([3.85] for the Serie A title) is whether Shevchenko has anything left, or whether an ageing body has given up, whether two years of struggle have sapped his will to the extent that those eight minutes at Parma were the last we'll see of the real Shevchenko? Given the form of Marco Boriello and the promise of Alexandre Pato, he may struggle to get a start, but there are positive signs.

For one thing, however bad Shevchenko looked for Chelsea, he was always lively for Ukraine, seemingly inspired by the demands of leading his country. And for another there were, if you looked hard enough, signs of the old markmanship last season. He only score five goals, but those came every 148 minutes he spent on the pitch, making him by some distance Chelsea's most clinical forward. He also led his other strikers in terms of shots on target (59%) and chance conversion (23%).

Mourinho, now the Internazionale manager, has already started the cross-Milan sniping, suggesting Shevchenko was too "used to being the prince" to fit in at Chelsea, but that is as likely to be mind-games as a serious criticism. Certainly it doesn't tally with the general perception of Shevchenko's character. Back in Milan, among familiar faces and with expectation lifted, he will be desperate for a glorious finale. His reputation demands it.