Kings Road billionaires Chelsea are keen to swoop for Inter striker Mario Balotelli, according to the Daily Mirror...

Following much hype and speculation regarding interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid, Chelsea have now jumped on the Balotelli bandwagon and they are ready to make old coach Jose Mourinho a mega offer for the Italian hit-man.

Fireworks are likely to start exploding between the English and Italian clubs, given the relationship 'Special One' and the Blues, who sacked him last year.

The Daily Mirror claims the West London club are keen on the Italian under-21 international following his outstanding performances. Balotelli fired the Azzurrini to a 3-1 win over Israel on Wednesday night and he is quickly becoming one of the hottest properties in football.

However, the striker is not finding much space at San Siro, fuelling speculation over his future as well as posing new questions on whether he would be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are looking at Balotelli as an interim replacement for the injured Didier Drogba, but reports in Italy suggest the striker isn't keen on moving to the Premier League as it may ruin his chances of making a step up to Marcello Lippi's senior Azzurri squad.

A January bid for the player is expected and Inter may be tempted to part company with the rising star if they recieve a good offer from Chelsea supremo Roman Abramovic.

However, there is still the question regarding Mourinho, the coach is likely to shackle his player and scoff at his old club when he hears of their plans.

Europe’s premier club competition is now well underway and 32 of the continent’s finest teams are all still in the running to reach the knockout phase next year. Mark Pickering assesses the credentials of three of the more noteworthy teams in this year's edition of the Champions League...

The tournament, which enters group Match Day Three on November 4th, is replete with squads that are the envy of world football and features no less than eight previous Champions League winners.  

While there’s the usual cast of mainstays like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, who are synonymous with the competition, there are also some little-known newcomers and returning sides in this year’s European showpiece.  

Three of the most intriguing entrants are Spanish standouts Atlético Madrid, Cypriot newcomers Anorthosis Famagusta and Romanian debutants CFR Cluj.

The headline-grabbing trio have already made a splash in this year’s competition and are well placed to reach December’s draw for the knockout stages.  

Atlético are participating in the tournament for the eleventh time in their history and are intent on making up for lost time with their last appearance in the competition coming over a decade ago.  

Serbian Radomir Antić guided the Los Colchoneros to a famous league and cup double in 1996 and a much coveted Champions League berth.  

The double winners had a squad brimming with talent including Argentine legend Diego Simeone, Serbian playmaker Milinko Pantić, Madrid native Juan Manuel López and his widely popular countryman Kiko.  

The Spanish side won their group ahead of eventual competition winners Borussia Dortmund but narrowly lost out 4-3 to defending champions Ajax in the quarter finals.  

Twelve years on and the Spaniards have a squad reminscent of their class of 1996.

Now under the stewardship of Mexican Javier Aguirre, whose best known for guiding perennial strugglers Osasuana to the brink of the Champions League, Atletico are well placed domestically and gearing towards European honours.  

The star-laden squad has a strong Argentine influence with 20-year-old prodigy Sergio Aguero, captain Maxi Rodriguez, veteran keeper Leo Franco, on loan midfielder Ever Banega as well as naturalised Spaniard Mariano Pernia.

Aguirre’s ranks also prominently feature a Spanish core with namesakes Luis and Raul Garcia and their compatriot Antonio Lopez also holding key roles.  

The Mexican coach invested well in the summer, boosting his squad with a string of shrewd signings including Ajax’s John Heitinga, former French number one Gregory Coupet from Lyon, Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi and Porto’s Paulo Assunção.  

Their timely spending spree added much needed depth to the squad and all but ensured Atletico would be a force to be reckoned with this term. That has proved the case as the La Liga side produced a highly polished performance to convincingly beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in Holland in their opener and followed up with a gutsy 2-1 win at the Vincente Calderon against Marseille.  

Now Atletico lead the way in Group D with maximum points and have a mouthwatering double header against Fernando Torres’ Liverpool in their sights which will likely decide who finishes top of the group.  

With such a talented squad, an ambitious president and the astute Javier Aguirre at the helm the Spanish side were expected to perform admirably in their return to the competition but brushing aside Champions League regulars PSV and Marseille with such ease has raised eybrows.  

Atletico will keen to test their mettle against Liverpool and could well torment their former idol Torres.   

Elsewhere newboys Anorthosis Famagusta, who became the first ever Cypriot side to reach the group stage and are one of the least fancied teams in the competition, are heroically topping Group B.

The little-known Cypriots overcome Greek giants Panathinaikos by three goals to one this week after a hard fought goalless draw away at Werder Bremen on Match Day One.  

Their resolute performance in Germany is the more commendable of their two impressive results as they kept out a free-scoring Werder Bremen side that had scored 18 goals in their previous six Bundesliga games and thumped Bayern Munich 5-2 a fortnight ago.  

Despite their stellar start to their first ever Champions League campaign their efforts have gone largely unnoticed.  

The Old Lady, who are coached by charismatic Georgian Temuri Ketsbaia, might be newcomers to European competition at the highest level but they do boast a wealth of international experience in terms of personnel and some familiar names.  

Former Real Madrid and Brazil star Savio, much travelled former Bordeaux man Paula Costa, former Portsmouth midfielder Giannis Skopelitis and towering Greek defender Traianos Dellas, once of AS Roma, all ply their trade with the Cypriot Champions.  

They may not be household names or at the height of their careers but collectively form a cohesive side who are relishing their first foray in the Champions League.  

The Cypriots have a daunting couple of games against Italian giants Inter ahead but will take heart from their two group games so far and strive to remain in the hunt for an unlikely place in the next round.  

Fellow newcomers CFR Cluj-Napoca have been the darlings of the tournament so far and attracted plaudits as well as unprecedented mainstream attention after beating AS Roma in Italy and holding last year’s finalists Chelsea to a stalemate.  

The Romanian Champions, who have an international flavour with ten South American players on their books, five Portuguese, three Ivorians, a Canadian and a handful of Romanians, have wildly exceeded expections.   

The Champions League newcomers stunned Roma in their first game in the competition with a deserved 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico and in doing so sent shockwaves through European football.  

CFR Cluj proved their result in Italy was far from a fortunate one by taking the game to Chelsea in Romania and could well have emerged with all three points.

Six years ago they were among footballing backwaters in the the third tier of Romanian football - now they’ve become the first team from outside Bucharest to win Liga 1 in 17 years and are more than holding their own against Europe’s elite.  

The latest chapter in their meteoric rise is being overseen by Italian coach Maurizio Trombetta who will be looking for more of the same in the crucial double header against bottom placed Bordeaux. 

Mark Pickering

American businessman Stan Kroenke has joined the Arsenal board after accepting an invitation to become a non-executive director of the club.

The billionaire owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises holds 12.4% of shares in Arsenal Holdings PLC, and his prospective appointment to the board was widely interpreted as an attempt to stave off a potential takeover from Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Kroenke has not, however, signed up to the 'lockdown' agreement drawn up by board members last year which prevents the trading of shares without the consent of fellow directors. Welcomed Arsenal chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, welcomed the American's arrival on the board. "We are delighted to welcome Stan to the Board of Arsenal," Hill-Wood told the club's official website. "He brings with him a wealth of experience through his direct involvement in sports clubs in the US and we expect to benefit from his commercial insights and knowledge." Kroenke admitted he was honoured to be invited to join the board at Emirates Stadium. "It is a real honour to be invited to join the Board of Arsenal given its pre-eminent reputation and position in football world-wide. I hope that my background in sports management will be an asset to Arsenal in its commercial dealings going forward." The news comes as the Gunners continue to reap the rewards of their move to the Emirates Stadium with the club having announced that gate and match day revenue totalled £94.6million, which represents some 45% of their overall football revenues.

The Cameroonian international admitted that he was not prepared to move to Stade Gerland because the salary on offer did not match what he had asked for.

Despite that, Eto'o did not rule out moving to the French champions in the future because he would like to live in France and has friends at the club.

"Lyon did make a big effort but I could not go there and I want to think their president Jean-Michel Aulas for his interest even though they could not match what I asked for," he told TF1's Telefoot programme.

"I have friends in Lyon such [Jean Il] Makoun and may be one day I could go there. For someone from Cameroon like me, to live in France would be great."

The Uzbeki outfit that wanted Eto'o were prepared to pay him an incredible sum for a short stay, but Eto'o felt that the move would have been below him.

"They offered me $25m to spend two or three months there. My head was spinning because of that offer, but everyone had to understand that as a Cameroon international I had to aim higher and play for a big club," he continued.

"That was why I could not accept that offer."

Eto'o was expected to leave Barcelona at the end of last season but his impressive attitude and form in pre-season convinced coach Pep Guardiola to keep him at Camp Nou.

The Cameroonian international admitted that he was not prepared to move to Stade Gerland because the salary on offer did not match what he had asked for.

Despite that, Eto'o did not rule out moving to the French champions in the future because he would like to live in France and has friends at the club.

"Lyon did make a big effort but I could not go there and I want to think their president Jean-Michel Aulas for his interest even though they could not match what I asked for," he told TF1's Telefoot programme.

"I have friends in Lyon such [Jean Il] Makoun and may be one day I could go there. For someone from Cameroon like me, to live in France would be great."

The Uzbeki outfit that wanted Eto'o were prepared to pay him an incredible sum for a short stay, but Eto'o felt that the move would have been below him.

"They offered me $25m to spend two or three months there. My head was spinning because of that offer, but everyone had to understand that as a Cameroon international I had to aim higher and play for a big club," he continued.

"That was why I could not accept that offer."

Eto'o was expected to leave Barcelona at the end of last season but his impressive attitude and form in pre-season convinced coach Pep Guardiola to keep him at Camp Nou.

The 27-year-old striker won the game seven minutes from time with a well placed header to put his side 2-1 up after Spurs looked the more likely to go on and win the game. Tottenham were looking for a win after they’re disappointing defeat to Middlesbrough last weekend.  

They got off to a bad start when the Black Cats went ahead through Kieran Richardson’s 25-yard effort that nestled in the corner of the net. Spurs improved after that and deservedly levelled 23 minutes later with a goal from former Newcastle man Jermaine Jenas. There was one final twist however when Cisse got the winner to give Sunderland an unexpected first away win of the season.

The French international has only been at the club since Friday, with his international clearance given with just ten minutes to spare on Friday night.

Speaking to The Sunday Sun Sunderland boss Roy Keane said, “It’s a good start for Djibril.

“He only trained with us on Friday and we only got his registration through on Friday night which allowed him to play.

“I was always going to put him on the bench, but he gives us good options.

“He will challenge the other strikers at the club and it was great for me to look over my shoulder at the bench and see that I had someone to bring on who could give us something different.

“We gave a shocking goal away, but I thought Spurs probably deserved an equaliser at that point,” he continued.

“At 1-1, I would have been happy with a point, but we stuck at it and I think we just about edged it overall.

“It says a lot about the character of my players. What I’ve said all along is that we needed a bit more quality and to be a bit more streetwise.

“And now we’re bringing in players who fit both categories.”

The Black Cats manager also hinted that Cisse could be in for a starting place against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup on Wednesday saying, “There is a good chance he will start at Forest.”