Chelsea want Hiddink and Hughes: Abramovich believes dream team can deliver Champions League.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is putting together a managerial dream team of Guus Hiddink and Mark Hughes as the men who he believes can guide Chelsea to the Champions League glory he craves.
Abramovich wants 64-year-old Dutchman Hiddink and former Chelsea striker Hughes to combine as director of football and first-team coach and break Barcelona’s European dominance.
Negotiations are well advanced and despite the fact that the two men have no previous working relationship, Chelsea’s billionaire owner is confident that they will prove an instant success.

 

Double act: Guus Hiddink and Mark Hughes have been targeted by Roman Abramovich

Abramovich, not content with Chelsea’s position as Premier League runners-up this season, believes his squad need fresh impetus after the departure of Double-winning manager Carlo Ancelotti, who is set to take charge at Aston Villa, and sporting director Frank Arnesen.

The Russian feels the experience and contacts of Hiddink in a more hands-on role than the consulting position he has maintained at Chelsea, where he was caretaker-manager following the sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari in February 2009, would work well with the training ground and pitch-side skills of 47-year-old Hughes.
The Welshman, who quit his job at Fulham last week, will be available at the end of the month — or sooner if the club release him — while Hiddink is ready to move on from his position as Turkey coach and wants to lock horns with Premier League champions Manchester United.

Hollow applause: Roman Abramovich was there to witness Chelsea's Champions League hopes halted at Old Trafford for another season

Asked if United could be deposed by Chelsea next season, Hiddink said: ‘Yes. All teams can be beaten and no way is this going to be a one-horse race. We all saw last season’s top five or six shift and shuffle. Chelsea were on top in the beginning and came strong again towards the end.
‘Manchester United and Arsenal were both top, Manchester City came with a strong run. United finished on top but it doesn’t mean it has to be like that next season. It will be very open.’
Hiddink, who won the European Cup as PSV Eindhoven manager in 1988, feels he has one last major club position left in him.
‘I’m almost 65, almost a pensioner,’ he said.

Proven winner: After an FA Cup victory during his stint at Chelsea, Hiddink wants to take on Manchester United

He has also attracted interest from Inter Milan and was heading for Holland on Saturday after Turkey’s Euro 2012 qualifying draw with Belgium in Brussels on Friday.
But he is keen to join Chelsea, has a good relationship with Abramovich and has the approval of club captain John Terry and other senior players, who are also desperate to break their duck in the Champions League.
Meanwhile, United expect to tie up the £18million signing of Ashley Young, the Aston Villa winger who scored for England at Wembley, in the next fortnight and have all but concluded a £17m deal with Atletico Madrid for goalkeeper David de Gea.

On the move: Ashley Young (centre) is set for Old Trafford

But Sir Alex Ferguson’s £35m spending spree will not stop United pursuing key target Wesley Sneijder, Inter Milan’s £40m-rated playmaker.
But the Holland midfielder’s earnings in Italy of around £170,000-a-week after tax will be a significant hurdle.


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