Sheva will not replace Drogba, says Mourinho

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has denied talks that the club is willing to sell Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba after the purchase of Andriy Shevchenko.

كتب : Amro Hassan

الجمعة، 02 يونيو 2006 - 22:13
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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has denied talks that the club is willing to sell Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba after the purchase of Andriy Shevchenko.

The London club signed the Ukrainian star on a four-year deal for £ 30-million on Thursday, which fueled reports that Drogba will be heading out of Stamford Bridge.

"A lot of people were speaking about Andriy to come and Didier Drogba to go, but that was never, never, never the idea," Mourinho was quoted as saying by Sky Sports on Friday.

Drogba earlier expressed his desire to leave English football and play in another country were media criticism would be less, in order to concentrate on his game, and both Lyon and Marseille announced that they are willing to make substantial offers for the Ivorian striker.

However, Mourinho insisted that he has no intention of selling the player adding that both Drogba and Shevchenko can play together in the same 4-4-2 formation that Chelsea deployed at some parts of last season.

"They are two different strikers with two different qualities," Mourinho said.

"Andriy has creativity speed with the ball, movement, intelligence, he is an amazing player, and Drogba is a strong powerful fighter who's fantastic in creating spaces for other players to score," the Portuguese tactician added.

Drogba will be leading Ivory Coast in next month's World Cup where they will face the Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro and Argentina in Group C.