Claudio Ranieri is revelling in the "tinker man" tag pinned on him by his critics. The Chelsea boss should have the chance to shuffle his pack of stars again when the London club tackle Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Adrian Mutu's international clearance came through too late for him to figure in the 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield. But the Romanian striker, a £15.8 million signing from Parma, should be available to face Leicester.

Chelsea's latest target, the Russia international midfielder Alexei Smertin, spent yesterday in London to discuss a proposed £4.5 million transfer.

He is believed to be set to agree a four-year contract at Stamford Bridge today after attending Anfield on Sunday.

"Alexei's agent has asked us for a bit more time to conclude the transfer," said the Bordeaux president Jean-Luc Triaud."

The 28-year-old Bordeaux midfielder has not been seen at the French club since leaving for his homeland a fortnight ago, where he was expected to sign for Torpedo Moscow. That transfer collapsed after the Russian capital's mayor vetoed a proposed takeover of the club, leaving Smertin in limbo, from which he now appears ready to emerge.

Boudewijn Zenden has been inspired by his Dutch compatriot Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's goalscoring return to the Chelsea first team on Sunday to reconsider his decision to leave Stamford Bridge.

Zenden, fearful of his chances of making Holland's Euro 2004 squad from the Chelsea bench, has been in talks with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax, but may remain in London to try to re-establish himself in Claudio Ranieri's first-team plans.

And that gives Ranieri, who needs no second invitation to tinker, the perfect excuse to change a winning side.

He already had Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Carlton Cole and Mikael Forssell to choose from up front and can now call on the services of Mutu.

Ranieri started with Gudjohnsen as his central striker against Liverpool, with Jesper Gronkjaer on the left and Damien Duff on the right - a reverse of their normal positions.

Asked to explain that decision, he said: "I wanted to cut into their (Liverpool's) midfield.

"I spoke with the two players before and said 'be careful because I am the tinkerman and I can change everything!"'

Chelsea went ahead through Juan Sebastian Veron after Ranieri had switched Duff to the left and Gronkjaer to the right.

Clearly Ranieri clearly enjoys trying to outmanoeuvre rival managers with his tactical changes and with so many top players at his disposal, the temptation for frequent changes must be overwhelming.

The only worry for Chelsea fans might be how his players cope with the lack of continuity.

Ranieri himself admitted after the Liverpool win that the group of players assembled by Roman Abramovich's millions is "not a team yet" despite their "fantastic start".

Chelsea have brought in Veron, Duff, Wayne Bridge, Geremi, Glen Johnson, Joe Cole and now Mutu this summer, and Ranieri acknowledges that it will take time for them to gel - "that is normal. When you change a lot of players and they arrive all at once it is not easy," he reflected.

Ranieri tried to avoid singling out particular players for praise, although he did accept that defender John Terry was man of the match.

But he also gave former Manchester United misfit Veron a pat on the back after his goalscoring display.

Ranieri said: "I would rather look at the end of the season to assess people like Veron, he played well and for me he is a great champion and he showed what he can do."

Meanwhile, Sol Campbell's early-season problems went from bad to worse last night when it emerged that he is almost certainly out of England's friendly against Croatia at Portman Road tomorrow.

After a week in which Campbell had been cited by the English Football Association's disciplinary panel for kicking out at Manchester United's Eric Djemba-Djemba, then sent off in Arsenal's defeat of Everton on Saturday, the defender has suffered a shoulder injury and was a notable absentee when Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad trained yesterday.

Eriksson responded by recalling Birmingham's defender Matthew Upson, 24, a move that will be widely seen as signalling the end of the 32-year-old Gareth Southgate's international career.

Owen Hargreaves was sent back to Bayern Munich for treatment on a groin injury sustained at the weekend, while Emile Heskey missed training with a sore calf although he should be available to partner Liverpool team-mate Michael Owen in attack.

David Beckham and Jonathan Woodgate complained of stiff joints after training but they, too, are expected to be fit to play. Eriksson must decide whether to play Woodgate or John Terry alongside Rio Ferdinand in central defence, but the coach's decision to send for Upson speaks volumes about how far Southgate has fallen down the pecking order since his weak performance in June's defeat of Slovakia.

Beckham played down any worries over his fitness: "Fitness-wise I feel great at the moment. I felt a bit tired yesterday after playing against Valencia, but my fitness level has always been good, so I don't think I'll have any problem for Wednesday."

Beckham, meanwhile, urged Eriksson to stay on at least until the 2006 World Cup to bring success to England as he stressed his own commitment to the national side after his move to Spain. Beckham has seen all the speculation linking Eriksson with Chelsea over the summer after his well-documented meeting with Roman Abramovich.

While Eriksson stressed his determination to continue with his contract, some sceptics have still raised doubts over his future if England fail to qualify for the Euro 2004 finals.

However, Beckham refuses to countenance such a worst-case scenario, preferring to envisage a future in which Eriksson finally leads the national team to a trophy.

He declared: "Of course, you always want great managers to stay on at any team. He's been great for this team and this country.

"The results speak for themselves, really. It would be nice for us to get through these qualifiers and do something in this competition.

"As for the 2006 World Cup, of course, I want him to stay until we win something."

The friendly against Croatia is aimed to helped England's preprations for the two Euro 2004 qualifiers against Macedonia and Liechtenstein next month.