Chelsea's reward for beating Portsmouth 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in the third round of the FA Cup is another trip to Loftus Road. Last time we went that way was one of the most damaging results of the year - a 1-0 loss, two red cards and then a racist abuse scandal involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand. Obviously, it wasn't the best day in our history.

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Andre Villas-Boas talked about more than his involvement (or lack thereof) in the putative Kevin de Bruyne transfer from Genk at his pre-QPR-match press conference on Friday. Chelsea's manager also discussed another target who's been talked about plenty around here over the past few days - Shakhtar Donetsk winger Willian. Last we checked, both Shakhtar and Willian himself were busy talking up the possibility of a move within the next few days, but Villas-Boas has poured some cold water on that rumour:

[Willian] is an interesting player but I don't think we are going to progress with our interest. Because of work permit, because of price valuation and because the fact that our project next year is more important than the actual project at the moment, Not that Willian doesn't have those characteristics for the future but we are betting a lot on what we can build on next year.

-Source: ChelseaFC.com.

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It's somewhat-interesting-quote Friday! Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted he has very little to do with the impending signing of Genk winger Kevin de Bruyne, and that Chelsea's long term plans are out of his hands:

You have to speak to the people from the club about [the de Bruyne deal]. It's not within my immediate projects. He's a player the club has scouted for some time. I'm a manager who respects club policy. A club has to look to the future, whether it's with this manager or another. I think Kevin is an extremely interesting player and is a good bet if the club finishes the situation

-Source: BBC.

It's pretty easy to twist that into making it seem as though Villas-Boas doesn't want the young Belgian, but if you're familiar with the way Chelsea are currently set up it's entirely sensible. The manager's job is to coach the first team, and de Bruyne's nowhere near first-team ready. While I'm sure that Director of Football Michael Emenalo would coordinate with Villas-Boas on the transfer of players who are coming directly into the squad (e.g. Gary Cahill), there's absolutely no reason for the manager to get involved with prospects like de Bruyne, because they're entirely outside his sphere of responsibility.

Also, it's always a good time to bring up how good a job Emenalo seems to be doing - he's made some great buys since stepping in as DoF, an appointment which met with heavy resistance from fans, and we don't mention him enough in these parts.

I guess that quote wasn't that interesting after all. Oh well.

According to a relatively surprising announcement today, Kaby Djalo has left Chelsea FC to join Cypriot League side AEL Limassol. Kaby was not one of the elite prospects in our system by any means, but he was certainly a talented youngster who was performing fairly admirably for the reserve team. Some of you might remember that we took a quick look at Kaby this fall.

I'm not sure quite what to make of the wording in the announcement. Just looking at the way it was written would lead me to believe that Kaby was feeling that he'd have a better opportunity abroad and that his chances of breaking into our first team were slim*. Chelsea weren't likely to get much of anything for a kid who had never made a first team appearance, so it does sound like they let him go for free. Then again, Chelsea have been notoriously quiet about any fees they recieve in player sales. The Tore and Rajkovic deals have both shown that they are definitely looking to give themselves some leverage should the player develop into something special.

*FWIW, The article also states that Rhys Taylor has yet to make a first team appearance even though he's now made two

Kaby's new club currently sits atop the Cypriot League where they will attempt to take a Champions League place from the surprising APOEL. Where Kaby fits into the club's plans is unclear, but it's safe to assume he'll have a far better chance of breaking through to the first team there than he did here. Hopefully he'll go on to have some success there as it's always nice to see Chelsea academy products go on to lead productive careers. Best of luck Kaby...

The FA Cup match between Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers tomorrow was always going to be contentious, but with the racism dispute between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, the insanity has reached something of a fever pitch. The police have already moved the fixture to lunchtime in order to reduce crowd trouble, the two clubs have released a joint statement calling for calm and there's been a bizarre push to force Ferdinand to shake Terry's hand, which seems pretty silly if you ask me (Ferdinand isn't my favourite man in the world, but if he feels that he's been offended by Terry, he's well within his rights to show it).

Has the nicey-nicey sentiment worked? Has it [fun]:

We can confirm we are investigating an allegation of malicious communication received today at Queens Park Rangers football club. Officers from Hammersmith and Fulham are investigating.

-Metropolitan Police statement. Source: ESPN Soccernet.

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I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. Ligue 1 side Lille, best known around these parts for being the home of a certain Chelsea transfer target named Eden Hazard, have just sold one of their star forwards to Turkish side Fenerbache. Moussa Sow, currently at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal (although he will return after the group stages), is heading to Istanbul for a fee of around €13M.

The front line of Sow, Gervinho and Hazard was pivotal to Lille's success in taking the Ligue 1 crown last year, and now there's just Hazard left. It's surprising to me that they'd let Sow, who scored 25 goals last season and is second on the team with six this campaign, go while they're in the middle of challenging for a Champions League spot. It may well be that Lille have decided to punt the race for the top three and cash in on their hottest properties while they still can - or equally, they could have decided to sell one of their best players but keep key man Hazard in the hopes that he can get them to the Champions League himself.

I'm tending towards option one, but I think that's because I want Hazard to be available so badly I'm biasing myself. If Lille, who are currently four points back of Montpellier but barely ahead of Marseille, Lyon and Rennes are going into firesale mode, it'd be a shock if the Blues can't land the man who should probably be their top transfer target this window. Interesting times ahead.

There was a bit of a scare for both Chelsea and the Ivory Coast yesterday when Salomon Kalou, who's been brilliant so far in the tournament, pulled up in the second half of the Elephants' match against Burkina Faso with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. With Gervinho out of form, the Ivory Coast's attack relies on the Chelsea axis of Didier Drogba and Kalou, and although the 26-year-old is underappreciated around some parts of Stamford Bridge Chelsea would hardly be hoping for a major injury to a striker with Nicolas Anelka already sold.

But anyway, there's some good news on the Kalou front - he's totally fine. Check it:

It was more of a scare than any damage, Kalou felt pain behind the thigh but it's not a hamstring or tear.

-Eric Kakou , Ivory Coast press officer. Source: AFP via Sky Sport News.

Kalou's expected to start the Elephant's next match against Angola in a couple of days, so he won't be missing any time with us. Of course, if you want to be a pessimist, it's entirely possible that Kalou is injured and the national team's doctors have simply missed it. It wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened. For now, take them at their word, but it's probably worth keeping an eye on the striker for the rest of the tournament.

The Alex to Paris Saint-Germain saga's officially over, with the Brazilian officially signing with Carlo Ancelotti's new side on Friday. Chelsea have also confirmed the transfer via the club's Twitter. It's a decent move for PSG - they landed a quality centre half for not very much money (confirmed at £4.2M) - and Alex will finally be able to play football again without suffering the indignity of playing for QPR.

Alex, of course, was a key member of the double-winning side of 2009/10 (it's amazing that Chelsea won the league less than two years ago!) and it's a bit of a shame that a series of injuries last year let to him slipping down the totem pole. He's a very good defender, a decent-seeming bloke, and, well, he can do this:

Goodness me. I don't think we'll ever see anything quite like that again. Best of luck in Paris, Alex, and give Carlo a noogie or something from all of us. Much love!