Jump to content

Desailly: Anelka Can Never Replace Drogba


 Share

Recommended Posts

Former Chelsea captain Marcel Desailly insists that his compatriot Nicolas Anelka will never be able to replace Didier Drogba.

Following Chelsea's purchase of France international striker Nicolas Anelka from Bolton on £15million, the Blues appear to have covered Didier Drogba's absence over the next month on African Nations Cup duty with Ivory Coast.

However, Marcel Desailly, who played more than 200 matches for Chelsea between 1998 and 2004, believes that while Anelka will do a good job for the Blues, he cannot replace Drogba.

Desailly says the FA Cup holders would be crazy to allow the Ivorian - who has said he wants a new challenge - to leave Stamford Bridge.

Desailly told The Sun in an interview ahead of the African Cup of Nations, which is being held in Ghana where he was born, and which he will be helping the BBC to cover: "Anelka has huge potential but Drogba is Drogba.

"He [Anelka] will be there competing with Andriy Shevchenko and the other strikers but you cannot replace Drogba because he is the best.

"I don't know if Anelka can be the real first choice for Chelsea all the time."

The reaction of Drogba, 29, to the sacking of Jose Mourinho in September suggested he would quit Chelsea at the first opportunity. He gave emotional interviews to that effect but subsequently back-tracked and said he would stay.

However, in recent comments to the media Drogba remains equivocal about his Chelsea future.

Injury has disrupted his campaign so far, but when he has played, Drogba has underlined his value to Avram Grant's side, leading the line with his particular combination of power and panache.

Having recovered from recent knee surgery, Drogba will be looking to sparkle for Ivory Coast as they attempt to become champions of Africa in the upcoming continental tournament.

But Desailly fears that even after the Nations Cup, Anelka may never get the chance to partner Drogba in the Chelsea attack.

The 1998 World Cup winner with France told The Sun: "It will be hard for them to play together.

"Anelka doesn't really like to stay up front and he moves around a lot.

"Drogba goes right and left and it will need a lot of work for them to form a partnership."

Source: Goal.com

Edited by TrueChelseaBlue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • 0 members are here!

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

talk chelse forums

We get it, advertisements are annoying!
Talk Chelsea relies on revenue to pay for hosting and upgrades. While we try to keep adverts as unobtrusive as possible, we need to run ad's to make sure we can stay online because over the years costs have become very high.

Could you please allow adverts on this website and help us by switching your ad blocker off.

KTBFFH
Thank You