Scolari in bid to keep Lampard and Drogba - Sport - Evening Standard
       

Scolari in bid to keep Lampard and Drogba

Luiz Felipe Scolari will today begin his fight to persuade Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba to stay at Chelsea. Both players are due at Cobham for the start of pre-season training under new manager Scolari, along with most of the first-team squad.

Scolari has a double session in store for his players, but is also expected to find time to have talks with both Lampard and Drogba.

Lampard's future is still unresolved and it is believed Inter Milan faxed a £6.5million offer to Chelsea to officially register their interest in the player.

The England international has just one year left on his current deal and has yet to agree terms over a new one.

Scolari and Chelsea had always planned to step up the bid to keep him once he returned from holiday and the Brazilian will get a chance to put his message across today.

Chelsea are keen for the midfielder, who has scored 80 goals in the past four seasons, to stay at Stamford Bridge and still believe they can achieve that.

Drogba's future is also undecided even though the striker and the club seemed ready to go their separate ways at the end of last season.

The 30-year-old has wanted to leave since Jose Mourinho was sacked last September, while the hierarchy were also ready to listen to offers having had enough of his antics last season, culminating in his dismissal in the Champions League Final.

Reports in Italy yesterday claimed Drogba has decided he wants to be reunited with Mourinho at Inter Milan.

However, it is understood Chelsea have yet to receive a single bid for the Ivory Coast international despite interest from both Milan clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Scolari is bound to be asked about both players at a press conference tomorrow when he will finally be officially unveiled in front of the media.

The former Portugal coach got his first look at the club's training ground yesterday and already likes the look of what he sees.

He said: "It is fantastic to finally be here. The training ground is world class and I am very impressed by everything I have seen and heard from the staff.

"I am looking forward to welcoming the players back from their summer holidays so we can start working together."

Not all of the squad will take part today, with Michael Ballack and the Portugal players, including new signing Deco, given more time off due to their involvement in the latter rounds of Euro 2008.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech is due to return on Thursday and he can't wait to work under Scolari, who he believes can make as big an impact as Mourinho.

He said: "Mr Scolari is a very good choice. He is a World Cup winner and everywhere he has gone he has been a success every time, so I hope he can bring this to Chelsea.

"I can imagine him being able to do what Jose did and bring success straight away because there is so much quality in the squad. Seeing the quality of the manager and the staff he is bringing in, we will challenge for all the titles again.

"We have got a lot of players with experience and while Deco is new to the Premier League, he knows Scolari and the other Portugal players.

"We are a big club with big ambitions to win everything and nothing has changed. It will be exciting for everyone because this is a new era and hopefully it will be the same as 2004 when Jose took over."

Chelsea have strongly denied AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani's claims that the club has made an ' astronomical' bid for Brazil star Kaka.

Galliani's comments come just weeks after Milan insisted he was not for sale and Kaka committed his future to the Italians.

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