• Premier League

Drogba exit talk denied

ESPN staff
May 21, 2012
Could Didier Drogba be staying at Chelsea after all? © Getty Images
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The agent of Didier Drogba has moved to distance the Chelsea striker from quotes claiming he has already decided to leave Stamford Bridge.

An article in France Football magazine quoted the Ivory Coast star as saying he was planning "another adventure" away from west London and that he had tearfully informed his Chelsea team-mates of the decision during the parade to celebrate their Champions League triumph.

"We [he and his team-mates] will not be together next season," Drogba was quoted as saying. "As I have decided to leave, I wanted to tell them to their faces.

"They made me break down. I found it hard to admit that it was finished with me and the club. But I don't envisage sitting on the bench watching others play at a time when the club is looking at putting together a new team.

"So there we go, I am readying myself for a great leap into the unknown. It will be another adventure."

However, the veteran Chelsea striker's representatives have since insisted that the comments in France Football "are not genuine", though the magazine is standing by its article.

Drogba, 34, scored a dramatic late equaliser for the Blues in Saturday's Champions League final before netting the crucial penalty in the shootout as he ended the club's long wait for a maiden European Cup triumph.

His future has been the subject of conjecture for some time and he has been strongly tipped to join former strike partner Nicolas Anelka in China, where the Frenchman is currently player-manager at big-spending Shanghai Shenhua.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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