Premier League - Drogba absent from Chelsea tour

Eurosport - Mon, 21 Jul 09:47:00 2008

Chelsea have left for their pre-season tour of Asia without striker Didier Drogba.

2008 Chelsea Didier Drogba - 0

The 30-year-old has been linked with a transfer away from Stamford Bridge this summer although the Blues claim his absence from the trip is due to the need to recover from a knee injury.

Drogba's omission seems certain to raise further questions about his future, however, with a virtually full-strength squad travelling to play games in China and Malaysia before returning to Europe for the Railways Cup in Moscow.

Another player rumoured to be on his way from the Londoners, Inter Milan target Frank Lampard, is included in the party.

New boys Deco and Jose Bosingwa are in Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad, while Michael Ballack will link up with them in China after finishing a post-Euro 2008 holiday.

Scolari will take charge of his first match as Chelsea manager on Wednesday against Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals.

"The players are not ready yet totally, but we are starting to build a new team and a new philosophy," the Brazilian told www.chelseafc.com.

"This is just the beginning, and I expect after these five games that I will have a general idea about all the players and a system."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

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  1. im a mufc fan and chelsea r good for premiereship just get over it.why u r all hating chelsea u r leavin mufc alone . super reds

    From shaunp0901, on Fri 25 Jul 7:03AM
  2. By the lack of any further argument, I assume that all the haters know only to repeat their lines like a little child in an adult argument. & I was hoping for something real from you guys! :D U could have mentioned some serious arguments for your thesis: no long-term policy, constant changes of coaching staff, weak youth academy... So, guys, stick to watching the game and don't try to understand it & talk about it, cause you simply do not understand the game :P

    From t_terziev, on Mon 21 Jul 5:10PM
  3. Rali there is nothing new to say bcs saying chelsea spend big and play boring football is all that needs to be said.

    From david s, on Mon 21 Jul 9:42AM
  4. Chelsea is just @#$%!!! End of discussion.

    From steviegthebestaround, on Mon 21 Jul 9:38AM
  5. So, my dear Chelsea haters, beyond pure hatred, you still cannot make some reason to me . Well, they might not have the best selection in the world, yet again, they are a big player on the market for 5 years. It is not easy, my dear friends, to get the players you want, so you get what u can...hmm, how would you turn that around is beyond me, but still I am sure some "haters" will :D . Anyways, RealM are even bigger spenders, yet no Ch.L for them in years, but can any of you, haters go ahead and call them loosers! And if you say that they are not EPL team and you dont care, well, then you are not a football fan, but some die-hard team fan, who don't understand football, and therefore, should not speak about it :D:D

    Go on, everyone, please, be a bit more realistic and look at the big picture!

    Gotta go now, C.U. later :D

    From t_terziev, on Mon 21 Jul 9:13AM
  6. oh please we are tired of hearing chelsea spending so much money and playing boring footie-isnt there anything new for chelsea haters to say?

    From coolchic, on Mon 21 Jul 8:35AM
  7. OK I must say what is up with all the hating on Chelsea for having money for a change... in Football nowadays you need money if you are hoping to Win the EPL and CL which is of course an unfortunate yet undeniable fact, if money was not always an issue then the EPL would have had other teams with the exception of Man Utd, Chelsea & Arsenal winning the league is last 5 years.

    In order to create CL winning teams you need big players and those cost money. However the way Chelsea go about purchasing players is undoubtedly insane. But as for Drogba what irritates me most about him is the way he plays for his country & Chelsea.

    In the Africa Cup of Nations in January this year Drogba was strong physical presence, when he got tackled he would just get up and continue with the game, in Europe or England he behaves like this fragile piece of glass that would break at slightest bit of contact, why is there such a contrast, is it because in Europe & EPL he is too pampered and treated like a golden egg???

    From Dex Genius, on Mon 21 Jul 8:29AM
  8. Ballack is on holiday sharing jellied eels with Curbishley, I doubt he will make it to China with Chelski at all :-)

    From Art T, on Mon 21 Jul 7:26AM
  9. Drogba should join Eto'o in that uzbekistanwhatever squad.
    Just chilling out, collecting cash, go to the grass every now and then, polishing their 35+inch rims on their tractors, still score 25+ in the league there so he can claim he's still a 'top scorer' and then just wait for an Asian/SA bid..

    Yeah, that's the stuff...

    From Dave, on Mon 21 Jul 7:12AM
  10. CHELSIA - DROGBA = CATASTROPHE

    REMEMBER WHEN HE HAD INJURY?

    From Emmanuel A, on Mon 21 Jul 5:51AM
  11. Drogba sucks, they should release him and sign Kaka instead.

    From Asdfaf A, on Mon 21 Jul 4:36AM
  12. all english teams r @#$%, scottish teams always win battles of britain haha

    From tyasmar2002, on Mon 21 Jul 1:14AM
  13. if chelsea never beaten liverpool on the final day

    when theat jesper player scoed in the last minute

    Roma would have never brought chelsea
    chelsea were going out of business so he saved them
    but still chelsea record since roman arrived trophy wise pretty small ey

    From michaelkoechlin, on Mon 21 Jul 1:05AM
  14. chelsea spend there money from something that comes out of the ground...whilst playing football like something that comes out of my ars*.......anyone wonder why oil prices keep going up??? is there any wonder with that russian muppet spending profits like they go out of fashion! and why? who knows? because they are not going to win the champions league!!

    From JOE E, on Mon 21 Jul 12:22AM
  15. It's fair enough that chelsea fans are a bit irrate with all the abuse...and yes, they have done well in 5 years....but are you missing something? You have done well compared to other clubs with little or no money but when you think that the amount you have spent in that time, it's pathetic!! I reckon it is desperation now with chelsea, i mean why deco? i have never seen a midfield player give the ball away so much in midfield and if he is a replacment for lampard? then i am afriad you are going backwards instead of forwards. I heard that chelsea are close to signing Kaka? well he is a very good player...when he is not asleep, like he has been in most games i have watched....i saw him have a good game against Man Utd a couple of seasons ago and he got world player of the year because of it...but he is nto worth 80 million....thats a joke!
    I think the desperate attempt to win the champions league is going to be chelsea's demise! they have to be good enough to win the premier league first surely?

    From JOE E, on Mon 21 Jul 12:15AM
  16. YOU SAD SAD LOOSERS ALL YOU CHELSEA HATERS WHAT CAN I SAY?....JEALOUSY COMES TO MIND....PUT UP AND SHUT UP!!!.....MY BELOVED CHELSEA ARE HERE TO STAY, SO SIT BACK AND WITNESS THE GREATEST SHOW OF FOOTBALLING MASTERY....CHELSEA ARE SIMPLY THE BEST....

    From herbzone, on Mon 21 Jul 12:09AM
  17. blue for life

    From makatachy, on Mon 21 Jul 12:00AM
  18. What's wrong w/ u, people!!! From what I see, u'r all jelaous because R.Abramovich has money!!! What's wrong w/ u and with that? every big team has a good financial back, so what when it's coming from one man alone??????? I mean, Chelsea have just recently become rich and are doing quite well, give it some more years and then talk about them again and compare them to other "wealthy for ages" clubs! I mean, c'mon, I am not a Chelsea fan, but I admire what they achieved for such a short time - back to bach EPL's, cups, always in the knock-out stages and contender for Ch.League, and all that for 5 years. Real Madrid, Barcelona, L'pool, Man U, A.C. Milan have been "rich and famous for decades, for Christ sake!!!

    From t_terziev, on Sun 20 Jul 11:56PM
  19. without arseovich is 630million you would still be 5pos team remember pre matthew harding ken bates,what sort of team was you,can all of blues just shhh were all tired of you.glory hunters crawl back in hole you came out of.

    From sav a, on Sun 20 Jul 11:24PM
  20. Lovely to read so much abuse. As a Mighty Mighty Blues fan of the last 35 years i can tell u that i hate the vast amounts of money that are now a part of our glorious game, but unfortunately that's the way it is and i'm very glad that we're one of the fortunate ones. So, all u non blues fans, i hope you're enjoying the taste of your sour grapes!Oh, and by the way bobby and sandy, your comments might have more clout if you learned how to spell!

    From sebpope, on Sun 20 Jul 11:21PM
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