Name your price: Chelsea will try to buy Guardiola out of sabbatical if he quits Barca

In-demand coach has reportedly said he needs a break from the game but Blues' billionaire owner Abramovich has other ideasRoman Abramovich will open his chequebook in bid to persuade Pep Guardiola to postpone a sabbatical and manage Chelsea.

Guardiola is poised to confirm on Friday that he will be leaving Spanish giants Barcelona, and Chelsea’s owner will lead the rush of clubs hoping to persuade him to abandon plans to take a break from the game.

Abramovich made Guardiola his No 1 target when he sacked Andre Villas-Boas earlier in the season, and will be waiting to offer him a multi-million pound contract to move straight to Stamford Bridge.

Guardiola held talks with Barcelona president Sandro Rossell on Thursday, and is believed to have said he needs to take a sabbatical at the end of a week in which his team of superstars have lost their grip on their European and domestic titles.

He is set to tell his players of his plans on Friday, having promised to sleep on a final decision.

Chelsea’s players want interim boss Roberto Di Matteo to remain in charge, having lead the club to the FA Cup and European Cup finals, but Abramovich has a list of other potential candidates - with Guardiola's name at the top.

However, former Blues boss Jose Mourinho has ended any possibility of him returning to Stamford Bridge.

The Special One wants to stay at Real Madrid and try to win the Champions L
eague next season

Bridge too far: Mourinho wants to stay at Real Madrid not return to Chelsea

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Mourinho has had a strained relationship with the Spanish club’s fans and hierarchy since he arrived from Inter Milan in 2010 and has said he longs for a return to the Premier League.

But the Portuguese, who has already won the Champions League with Porto and Inter, said: “I want to win this title with this team.

"Winning the Copa del Rey last year was important and if we win the league this year that will be important too. Two (Champions League) semi-finals is also not bad but we want more.

“My feeling is that we still have the ability to grow as a team and the club has room to grow too. Clubs have to adapt to the evolution of time and to changing mentalities.

“A fantastic car in the 1980s is not fantastic in the 1990s or the 2000s.

"If the club thinks that I can still give something, and I know that they do, and if the players think so as well, and I think they do, I feel like the empathy is 

increasing,then i will continue.

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Di Matteo, who has lost just one of his 15 games in charge so far, is expected to leave the club in the summer to pursue his managerial career if he is not given the job.

He has already been interviewed for the Chelsea role by their technical director, Michael Emenalo.But chief executive Ron Gourlay has refused to endorse his credentials publicly since Tuesday’s dramatic win over Guardiola's Barca in the Champions League semi-finals.

Turtle Boy: Mole on kid's back grew so big it looked like a turtle's shell

A boy’s mole grew so big that by the age of six it covered his entire back like a turtle’s shell, earning him the nickname of Turtle Boy.

The rare birthmark - congenital melanocytic nevus – affects around 1 in 20,000 newborn babies but a top surgeon described Didier Montalvo’s condition as the worst he’d ever seen.

Didier’s life was severely affected by the growth, covering more than half of his body circumference, both in the painful itchiness of his skin and how it affected his confidence.

He and his family were shunned by villagers in his home in rural Colombia in South America and his mother Luz was even told it was her fault for looking at a solar eclipse while pregnant.

Shunned: Didier and mum Luz were ostracised in their village

Channel 4

The family were too poor to shell out for surgery - but his life changed when his touching story was featured in a local newspaper and a flood of donations poured in.

While they could now afford the op, the life-changing surgery was still by no means straightforward – in fact it would be painful, dangerous and complicated.

A Channel 4 documentary tonight will see a plastic surgeon from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London go over to Colombia to help the team operate.

GOSH surgeon Neil Bulstrode has operated on dozens of children with CMN – but never one as extreme as Didier’s.

Colombia mission: Surgeon Neil Bulstrode

 

He said: “Didier’s CMN was the worst case I had ever seen due to the size and bulk of the lesion. 

“Effectively three quarters of the circumference of his body was affected.

“Often people have CMN that are much flatter and are therefore much easier to care for and deal with.”

However, it did not stop Mr Bulstrode wanting to help remove the growth - and let Didier ditch the Turtle Boy nickname.

Mr Bulstrode added: “When I saw the pictures of Didier, one of my first feelings was that if we could remove it, we would significantly improve his quality of life.”

All smiles: Didier after the life-changing surgery

Channel 4

The full drama of the surgery will be seen in the documentary tonight but as you can see from this picture there is a happy ending.

Mr Bulstrode said: "It was great to be able to pass on our knowledge and skills, helping to get a great result for Didier.”

GOSH paediatric dermatologist Dr Veronica Kinsler runs a weekly clinic for patients with the condition.

She said: “When babies are born, their parents can get understandably very worried until they know what the marks are. 

“In the weekly clinics we run at Great Ormond Street Hospital we are able to give a diagnosis, check that the moles themselves are safe and whether the skin appearance is telling us what other things might need to be checked. “

Win Tickets to 2face Idibia's Buckwyld and Breathless concert

The concert will hold on Monday April 30th at Eko Hotel & Suites, VI. Tuesday May 1st is public holiday (May Day) so y'all can make it. Regular ticket: N5, 000. Premium regular: N10, 000. VIP N400, 000 (Table for 8).

linda ikeji is giving out TEN tickets here. 5 regulars and 5 premium regulars. To win, tell us the year 2face Idibia's former group, Plantashun Boiz released their first album. First ten people with the correct answers get the ticket. Goodluck!

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