A round-up of news and views relating to Chelsea over the past 24 hours.
John Terry is likely to return to the starting line-up for this weekend’s match with Liverpool, but Di Matteo has said that the Chelsea captain will likely be dropped at times in the future as he rotates his defenders. Ashley Cole remains out for Chelsea, with Ryan Bertrand set to deputise again.
Chelsea are facing their bogey team in Liverpool, with the Merseyside team winning the last four Premier League meetings between the two sides. Chelsea did, however, come out on top in the FA cup final at the end of last season. Fernando Torres will be one man under the spotlight for the match. The Spaniard scored five in four games for Liverpool against Chelsea, but has yet to score in the same fixture for his new side.
Torres has also been dropped from the Spain squad for their upcoming friendly with Panama, but Juan Mata has returned to Del Bosque’s favour after his recent magnificent displays for Chelsea.
Chelsea have announced today that the club has made its first profit of the Abramovich years. The £1.4 million profit is still dwarfed by the £67.7 million loss the year before, but it is a welcome result with the Financial Fair Play regulations looming.
Didier Drogba has explained his reasons for leaving Chelsea, saying the club wanted to move in a new direction:
“My priority was to stay at Chelsea to finish my career there, at the highest level, but the club wanted to bring new blood into the group,”
“So we had negotiations for months without finding any agreement.”
The Shanghai Shenhua player added that it was the right time to go, but said he hoped he’d be able to train at Chelsea during the Chinese off season ahead of the African Cup of Nations.
Josh McEachran has said he still continues his long term future to be at Chelsea, despite an array of stars ahead of him in the pecking order at the club. The midfielder is currently on loan at Middlesbrough, who are riding high in the Championship under Tony Mowbray.
Another loanee, Sam Hutchinson, is set to stay at Nottingham Forest despite a knee injury keeping him from playing recently. Forest are keen to keep hold of Hutchinson for the full loan period, with hopes he will be back in contention to play soon.
images: © Wshjackson, © wshjackson
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
