Didier Drogba, whose form for Chelsea this season has earned him a new four-year contract, has admitted that he considered leaving Stamford Bridge last summer.
Chelsea paid £30 million for Andriy Shevchenko from Milan but Drogba, who will become the fourth Chelsea player in a decade to score 20 goals in a season should he hit the target against Fulham today, insists the new arrival did not prompt his thoughts of leaving.
"Every end of the season you have to think about what you have done," he said in an interview for today's BBC Football Focus. "I had some teams who wanted to sign me so I had to think as I had won the league here for two consecutive years. I was thinking but not too much because Chelsea showed how they respect me and how they wanted me to stay. It was not about Shevchenko but was just about Chelsea and me."
Chelsea have confirmed that John Terry returned to training yesterday. The club captain, who had surgery on a back injury on Thursday, has been jogging at Chelsea's Cobham training ground.
Rafael Benitez has launched a thinly veiled attack on Peter Crouch's representatives, Stellar Group, for what he sees as an attempt to unsettle the England striker by encouraging him to believe that Liverpool would consider selling him to Newcastle in the January transfer window.
"I think Peter is clever, a good player and he was working really hard," said the Liverpool manager. "He must do the same - keep working hard and don't think about the other things. But in football the people around the players sometimes don't analyse the bigger picture."
Crouch is Liverpool's leading scorer but his start against Blackburn Rovers on St Stephen's Day was his first in the Premiership since the end of November. He was substituted in the 1-0 defeat. Benitez, whose side play Tottenham Hotspur today, said: "I have not spoken to Peter about the stories but my stance is clear: I don't want to sell him. He is improving, especially mentally. The problem is being consistent."
Benitez also dismissed rumours of David Villa's imminent arrival at Anfield from Valencia. Benitez said: "I can be very clear - we do not want to buy Villa and we do not want to sell Peter Crouch. Villa is a fantastic player but we are not interested in buying him now."
Meanwhile, Joey Barton's Manchester City future is in doubt and there are suggestions that some Premiership clubs are considering exploiting a get-out clause in the midfielder's contract which would allow him to leave Eastlands for £5.5 million.
The 24-year-old submitted a transfer request last January as he sought a move to a club playing in the Champions League, only to remain at City and sign a new contract at the beginning of this season which virtually doubled his salary to £25,000 a week.
However, that deal included a get-out clause negotiated by his agent, Willie McKay.
Guardian Service
