Andre Villas-Boas today rejected Carlo Ancelotti’s claims Chelsea needed to sell Didier Drogba for Fernando Torres to flourish.
Ancelotti, who Villas-Boas succeeded as Blues boss last summer, suggested £50million man Torres had failed to shine at Stamford Bridge because Didier Drogba “devours” all of his goalscoring rivals.
New Paris St Germain manager Ancelotti insisted the only solution was to get rid of Drogba but Villas-Boas said: ”For me, it’s not the case.
”Fernando has been with us a year and is in a great moment of form and looking sharp.”
Torres has indeed improved in recent weeks but that has coincided with Drogba’s absence at the African Nations Cup.
”It’s nothing to do with one being present and the other one not,” Villas-Boas said.
”In a club of our dimension, we have top competition.
”The people you compete with are as good or better than you and you have to compete to reach the starting XI.
”It’s the same with Barcelona and Real Madrid. You compete with the best within the group.”
If Torres has been intimidated by the presence of Drogba, the £50million man will not have to wait long to be rid of his rival.
Drogba is set to leave Stamford Bridge when his contract expires this summer after rejecting the offer of a one-year extension.
The 33-year-old, who had been holding out for a two-year deal, has exercised his right to talk to rival clubs this month by opening negotiations with Shanghai Shenhua, according to the Chinese side.
Shenhua owner Zhu Jun, who last month lured Drogba’s Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka to the club on a reported £200,000-a-week deal, said on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter: ”It’s like flirting with a girl. Perhaps she will resist you at first, but if you continue to ask her out, it always ends well. Never give up.”
Board member Zhou Jun told Shanghai Daily: ”It’s like making a blockbuster film.
”When superstars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Zhou Xun have confirmed their participation, other actors and actress will be confident of the movie.”
As they did with Anelka, Chelsea have the opion of cashing in this month rather than losing Drogba for free at the end of the season.
But Villas-Boas said: ”It’s not something that crossed my mind.
”I count on Didier, on what he represents as a player and an icon.”
As well as Torres, one player hoping to benefit from Drogba’s international commitments was Daniel Sturridge, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to play as a centre-forward.
Reports have claimed the 22-year-old was losing patience at being deployed out wide but Villas-Boas said: ”It’s not true that Daniel is under any kind of discomfort.
”If he was, we’d have to address it.
”Daniel can be used as a striker, but the players who compete for that position are Fernando, Didier and (Romelu) Lukaku.”
Gary Cahill’s long-awaited arrival this week will provide competition at the other end of the pitch but Villas-Boas suggested the England defender would not start Saturday’s match at Norwich.
Cahill has replaced Alex in the Chelsea squad, with Villas-Boas confirming the wantaway Brazilian was in talks with QPR despite the clubs still haggling over a fee.
Villas-Boas denied any interest in Marseille right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, who could solve what has been a problem position this season.
The return of Branislav Ivanovic from injury will allow Villas-Boas to drop the error-prone Jose Bosingwa, with the fit-again Michael Essien also in contention to start on Saturday after coming off the bench at the weekend for his first appearance of the season.
With the rest of the Barclays Premier League top five going head to head this weekend, Chelsea have the perfect chance to pounce.
But Villas-Boas said: ”At the moment, my focus is on Norwich and I don’t care what happens in the other games.”
After that, Chelsea will travel to Mallorca for a mid-season training camp.
Villas-Boas said: ”Warm weather is always important. We’ll find good conditions in Mallorca to train.”
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