Chelsea veteran Didier Drogba insisted Monday he intended to play for at least one more season.
The 37-year-old Ivory Coast forward is out of contract with the Premier League leaders at the end of the current campaign, having returned to Stamford Bridge after two seasons abroad.
Drogba, asked if he had decided on his future, said: “Yes I have and it’s not going to be my last season.”
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said last week he had still to speak to Drogba regarding his future.
“We have a lot of talks to do,” Mourinho said. “I don’t know what he wants.
“There are people who, during their careers, earn the right and the power to make decisions and not wait for others to make decisions for them.
“What he did at this club for so many years puts him in a great position.”
Mourinho, then in his first spell as Chelsea manager, signed Drogba from Marseille in 2004.
The powerful forward scored 157 goals in his initial eight-year stint with Chelsea, including the winning penalty in the 2012 Champions League final shoot-out victory.
However, Drogba has been largely a squad player this season and made just his fourth league start of the season in Sunday’s 1-0 west London derby away to Queens Park Rangers after injuries to Diego Costa and Loic Remy.
Drogba could start against Manchester United this Saturday as Chelsea look to move one step closer to clinching the English top-flight title.
“It’s difficult when you don’t play and then have to go into these kind of games,” he said. “But I always try to give my best.
“I tried to give the best of my physical capacity against QPR, so if the manager needs me against United and Arsenal, I’m ready.”
Lazio
Lazio coach Stefano Pioli has told his players not to take the foot off the pedal after thrashing Empoli on Sunday and leapfrogging Roma into second place in Serie A.
It was the capital club’s eighth-straight victory at the Stadio Olimpico and they have their noses in front of city rivals Roma in the race for automatic qualification for the Uefa Champions League with just a point separating the two.
Serie A leaders Juventus, who slumped to a shock defeat at bottom-side Parma on Saturday, are 12 points clear of Lazio with eight rounds still to play.
Villarreal
Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla is among several players to have offered support to Villarreal defender Mateo Musacchio following his gruesome leg injury.
The Argentine fractured his fibula and dislocated his left ankle during his side’s 1-1 draw at Getafe in the Primera Liga on Sunday.
Musacchio, 24, had successful surgery hours later in Madrid. No recovery time has been set by the club.
Cazorla, who played with Musacchio during his time at Villarreal, tweeted: “A lot of best wishes to my friend Mateo, I hope it’s not too serious. Wishing you all the strength for the recovery.”
Eintracht Frankfurt
Bundesliga top scorer Alex Meier has been ruled out for the rest of the season as he awaits surgery on his knee.
The Eintracht Frankfurt striker, 32, who leads the German top-tier charts with 19 goals this term, is set to have an operation on Tuesday on his kneecap, which has been troubling him since last week and forced him to miss Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich.
Meier confirmed the news on his club’s official website on Monday, saying: “I am very sad that I have to have surgery. It’s a pity that I did not bring the season to an end and I’m unable to help the team.”
Montpellier
Former Ligue 1 champions Montpellier will be without the services of Morgan Sanson for at least six months after the key midfielder ruptured knee ligaments during Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Toulouse.
“Verdict: Ruptured knee ligaments,” Sanson, 20, said on his Twitter account. “Devastated and sad about that, but I will come back even stronger, don’t worry about that.”
Sanson has started 30 games this season for the 2012 French champions, scoring six goals. He signed from second division Le Mans in 2013 and recently signed a contract extension until 2018.
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