Intrigue surrounded the future of Didier Drogba as it was announced that Andriy Shevchenko had signed for the Premiership champions last night. While the Milan striker was in London for a medical earlier in the day Drogba was conspicuous by his absence from Ivory Coast's pre-World Cup training camp in France.
Drogba withdrew from his national team's preparations for two days, the official explanation stating that he was attending a sponsors' photo-shoot.
The 28-year-old had long been due to talk yesterday in his role as captain but pulled out at the 11th hour. He must have been aware that would spark a frenzy of speculation over his state of mind at a time when he had the opportunity to issue his support to the arrival at Chelsea of a more senior striker.
Drogba was recently quoted as saying he wants to leave the club and "avoid all the pressure and scandals".
He does not believe he can fulfil his potential at Stamford Bridge and would welcome a move to another team that has qualified for the Champions League. A number of clubs have been casting eyes towards him, including Lyon, although the French champions said yesterday they would not be signing him.
Jose Mourinho responded to Drogba's remarks by refusing to sanction a transfer, describing the former Marseille player's position as "not negotiable" with two years remaining on his contract. Chelsea were under the impression yesterday that Drogba was with the Ivory Coast.
Mourinho sees him as integral to his plans and it would be a serious blow to the manager, and an indication he is losing his power battle with the club's chief executive, Peter Kenyon, if the Ivorian were to leave.
He wants to enhance Chelsea's goal power by having Drogba, Shevchenko, Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou at his disposal next season in conjunction with regular scorers such as Frank Lampard.
Shevchenko's capture will end Chelsea's long pursuit of the Ukrainian, who rejected a contract extension at Milan last week to take up an offer from the Premiership champions.
Personal terms and an agreement with Milan had been reached and confirmation of the transfer came last night.
Last summer Mourinho was unable to land centre-forwards such as Shevchenko, David Trezeguet and Adriano, but this has been a less frustrating period. Shevchenko has said he is leaving Milan for family reasons after seven years.
The striker is recovering from a knee injury sustained against Parma on May 7th but is confident of playing Ukraine's opening World Cup fixture against Spain on June 14th. He, like Drogba, is preparing for his first experience of the finals.
Kalou, for whom Chelsea have reached an agreement with Feyenoord, will play no part in the tournament. He was born in Ivory Coast but has tried unsuccessfully to get Dutch citizenship and Mourinho is likely to have to attend an appeals committee to try to get a work permit for him. He does not meet the criteria for non-EU players which require involvement in 75 per cent of their country's competitive internationals over the previous two years.
Chelsea are still seeking a left-back, with Real Madrid's Roberto Carlos a target, and will allow players to depart. Guardian Service
Top five all-time transfers
Zidane (Juventus - Madrid) £44m
Figo (Barcelona-Madrid) ... £37m
Crespo (Parma-Lazio) ... £35.5m
Buffon (Parma-Juventus) ... £32.6m
Vieri (Lazio - Inter) ... £31m
Top five British transfers
Ferdinand (Leeds-Man Utd) £30m
Veron (Lazio - Man Utd) ... £28m
Rooney (Everton-Man Utd) £27m
Essien (Lyon - Chelsea) £24.5m
Drogba (Marseille-Chelsea) £24m
