Chelsea’s Andriy Shevchenko has denied giving an interview to a German website in which it was claimed was critical of manager Jose Mourinho.
German tv website sport.ARD.de. reported Shevchenko claimed he had become Mourinho’s “dartboard” because of a rift with owner Roman Abramovich.
But Shevchenko responded: “This is complete rubbish.
“I have never spoken to this German website or to the journalist who claims to have interviewed me.”
The £30m summer signing from Milan has struggled to reproduce his best form at Chelsea and there have been claims that he has been at the centre of the row bewteen Abramovich and Mourinho.
In the alleged interview, Shevchenko claimed he had not been used properly by Mourinho and that the manager was less keen on signing him than Abramovich.
Shevchenko was also quoted as saying he was unhappy in London and would have been happy to leave Chelsea on loan in January.
A spokeswoman for ARD said it was withdrawing the interview for the time being to verify its accuracy.
The interview had been done over the telephone in Russian and there had apparently been problems with the translation.
