Carlo Ancelotti not willing to sell-off unsettled Yuri Zhirkov
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti held talks with the unsettled Russian left back Yuri Zhirkov, stating that he had no plans to sell the player out of Stamford Bridge.
Zhirkov, who hails from Tambov, Russia, will be expected to make his first start of the season for the Blues against MSK Zilina in the UEFA Champions League clash on Wednesday night. The left back had only recently claimed that he’s considering his options and may leave during the January transfer window.
Yuri Zhirkov joined Chelsea last year for a reported fee of £18.2 million from CSKA Moscow last year, making him the most expensive Russian player of all time. His first season with the club, was an injury plagued one, as he constantly had knee problems during his first season at the club. Zhirkov has the ability to play as both a left back as well as a left winger but failed to break into the team this season owing to the high form and fitness of first team choice Ashley Cole and French forward Florent Malouda.
Ancelotti was thus quick to put an end to any more speculations following Zhirkov’s confessions and vowed to put an end to the issue once and for all. The manager claimed that he never had a word with the player about the future, since Zhirkov’s future is at Stamford Bridge. Ancelotti pointed out that the player was very talented and that in clubs like Chelsea and all the top teams, there is always lot of competition for starting spots and thus would have to improve his game.
"But I think that he will have the possibility to play a lot of games this year, because we are involved in a lot of competitions. We need to have all the players fit and ready to play.", claimed manager Carlo Ancelotti. The manager was extremely delighted by having club captain John Terry back among his ranks. The former English Captain defender has seemingly shaken off the rib injury which may have led the player to watch opening game of the Champions league from the sidelines. The Italian has, however, made several changes from the side that thwarted West Ham 3-1 on the weekend.
Branislav Ivanovic has replaced Paul Ferreira at the right back position, while Brazilian centre back Alex would partner Terry at the heart of defence. Youngster Daniel Sturridge would start in place of the suspended Didier Drogba upfront while newly signed former Liverpool man Yossi Benayoun would be making his first start in the team alongside Michael Essien and John Mikel Obi. The manager confirmed that John would have no problems playing in tomorrow’s match. Ancelotti added that Terry is fit and took part in training yesterday without any issue. Owing to this reason he is expected to feature in Wedneday’s clash.
The manager added that youngster Sturridge trained fairly well last year and has improved a lot from what he used to be. It would now be a good time for Sturridge to step up and show his quality. The player has fantastic ability, is speedy with the ball and it’s high time for him to put his skills on show on the pitch for his team, according to manager Carlo Ancelotti.
FC Zilina are yet again expected to be the group's comfort zone but they triumphed over Sparta Prague to reach the group stages of the Champions league and Ancelotti is in no mood to take such a threat lightly.
The manager claimed that Zilina is a good and strong team. The manager went through the tapes in their game Sparta Prague and praised the team’s quality in both the games. Ancelotti believed that Zilina had a threatening attack force and taking any opponent lightly would be unwise at this stage.
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