Russian international Yuri Zhirkov (left) is reported to be on the radar of Serie A side AS Roma by the Italian newspaper Corriere Dello Sport, and if Chelsea were to agree to a deal, the Russian might be in a better position to showcase his talent at the Italian side than he is now at Chelsea.

Zhirkov has been unable to cement a place in the first team at Stamford Bridge since joining at the beginning of this season, and his standing in the FTBL ranking has suffered as a consequence: he has an overall score of just 59.06 points at the moment, the worst of any midfielder at Chelsea.

At Roma, Zhirkov will not be in such bad standing; his current score is higher than that of Brazil international Julio Baptista (56.34 points) and Taddei (48.79 points), another Brazilian. If that could lead to more playtime, Zhirkov might be able to return to his previous level.

As the Blues take on Birmingham City tomorrow, Zhirkov will certainly drop further in the FTBL system if he plays just a few minutes as a substitute (as he usually doe); his plank to beat in the game will amount to 15.45 points.