Chelsea Acquires Smertin

Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of the English Premier League team Chelsea, continued his enormous summer spending spree Monday by acquiring Russian international midfielder Alexei Smertin from Bordeaux for $5.4 million

More significantly, reports from Europe said that Chelsea today would wrap up the purchase of Argentine international forward Hernan Crespo from Inter Milan for more than $28 million.

“Crespo will sign his contract with Chelsea [today] after he passes the medical tests,” said the player’s agent, Fernando Hidalgo. “The agreement between the clubs has been reached.”

Crespo, 28, briefly became the world’s most expensive player when he made the move from Parma to Lazio in 2000 for $54 million.

He was acquired by Inter Milan in 2002 as a replacement for Ronaldo when the Brazilian World Cup winner moved to Real Madrid.

By signing the Argentine, Abramovich will have spent more than $150 million on new players since taking control of Chelsea on July 1.

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World Cup 2006

Peru Coach Paulo Autuori has selected nine foreign-based players for World Cup 2006 qualifying matches at home against Paraguay on Sept. 6 and against Chile at Santiago on Sept. 9.

Included in the nine was Bayern Munich striker Claudio Pizzaro, one of two Peruvian players ejected during Peru’s fight-filled 3-1 victory over Mexico last week at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

Autuori will select his home-based players later this week.

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Nonda Sidelined

Shabani Nonda, the Congolese striker whose 26 goals made him the French league’s top goal scorer last season, has been sidelined for the rest of the season after tearing ligaments in his left knee during AS Monaco’s victory over Paris Saint Germain on Sunday.

The injury occurred when Nonda was tackled by defender Jose Pierre Fanfan, a tackle that was strongly criticized by Monaco Coach and former French World Cup winner Didier Deschamps.

“Whatever they [PSG] say, this was aggression from the defender,” Deschamps said. “Because of that, a player [Nonda] is going to lose one year of his career.”

Said Fanfan: “He’s a friend of mine. I feel upset.”

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Russian Switch

Russia hired former Spartak Moscow coach Georgi Yartsev as national coach for its remaining three European Championship qualifying games, against Ireland, Switzerland and Georgia.

Yartsev, 55, replaces Valeri Gazzaev, who resigned after a 2-1 loss to Israel last week at Moscow.

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Quick Passes

U.S. women’s national team Coach April Heinrichs today will select her roster for the fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be played in the U.S. from Sept. 20-Oct. 14.... The threat of a strike that would have delayed the start of the Spanish season evaporated after negotiations involving 30 teams, including eight from the first division, produced an agreement over the sale of television rights.... Atletico Madrid, the Spanish club owned by Mexican businessman Jorge Vergara, defeated Boca Juniors of Argentina, 1-0, on a goal by Fernando Torres in a friendly match at Madrid.... Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata has rejected a proposed move from Parma to Lazio.... Ricardo, one of four goalkeepers who had been fighting for the starting spot at Manchester United, was loaned to Racing Santander of Spain.... Brazilian defender Luisao, 22, officially completed his transfer from Cruzeiro of Brazil to Benfica of Portugal.... England national team defender Danny Mills, 26, was loaned by Leeds United to Middlesbrough for one season.... West Ham United of the English first division fired Glenn Roeder as coach.

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Times wire services contributed to this report.