The outcasts: Alex and Anelka banished and ruthless AVB to axe four moreBy Matt Barlow and Neil Ashton
Last updated at 11:00 PM on 4th December 2011
Chelsea will listen to offers for six senior players in January as owner Roman Abramovich backs Andre Villas-Boas to rebuild the club.
Sportsmail can reveal that Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Jose Bosingwa and Paulo Ferreira are available for transfer, news which follows the weekend announcement that transfer requests from Nicolas Anelka and Alex had been accepted.
The France striker and Brazil defender have been banned from using first-team facilities at the club’s training ground, with Anelka set to sign a £6.4million-a-year deal with Shanghai Shenhua in China.
Drogba and Kalou scored in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Newcastle but are out of contract next year and free to sign a pre-contract deal with a foreign club in January.
The Ivorian strikers are also destined for the Africa Cup of Nations, which starts on January 21 and could rule them out for up to six weeks of the season.
A lucrative move to the Middle East is understood to appeal to Drogba, who is 34 in March but will not be short of offers to extend his career.
Arsenal have always shown interest in Kalou and Juventus remain keen on Alex despite his alarming loss of form.
It proves owner Abramovich is preparing to back Villas-Boas, who is so anxious to refresh the squad that Alex and Anelka were told on Friday they could not use the main training centre when the first team are in the building.
It is the ultimate humiliation for two players who have been a huge part of Chelsea for the past three years.
Chelsea players were stunned when the pair, both popular characters in the dressing room, had their lockers cleared. Both have also been told they are no longer welcome to park in the first-team car park.
They believe they are being deliberately humiliated after being told to put their cars in the communal parking area next to the academy.
Villas-Boas has also told the pair they are no longer welcome to train with the first-team squad after they put in transfer requests. Instead they have separate training programmes, which are thought to include working with the reserves, academy and on their own.
Chelsea’s win at Newcastle eased them back into the top four but competition for the Champions League places looks set to be intense in the Barclays Premier League.
Chelsea’s first concern is to extend this season’s Champions League campaign by beating Valencia at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. The key to the longer-term project will be whether Villas-Boas, who insists he has been promised three years to complete his work, is allowed full control over his transfer targets.
The Portuguese manager reputedly has a good eye for players, dating back to his scouting past, yet Abramovich continues to listen to advice from a disparate selection of independent advisers.
Chelsea are expected to win the race to sign Gary Cahill from Bolton next month with the intention of pairing him with John Terry and releasing Branislav Ivanovic to play at right back.
Some within the club believe it may be the right time to elevate highly-rated defender Nathaniel Chalobah, 17 next week, to the first-team squad.
Josh McEachran and Ryan Bertrand will be allowed out on loan in January if reinforcements can be signed. Villas-Boas would also like to add left-sided Porto utility man Alvaro Pereira to his squad, and Chelsea have opened talks for Universidad de Chile striker Eduardo Vargas, according to reports in Chile.
Vargas, 22, may face work-permit issues and is unlikely to be a top target to fill the boots of Drogba and Anelka.
Tentative enquiries were made for David Villa in the summer and the striker has slipped out of favour at Barcelona. There is a long-standing interest in Lille’s Eden Hazard. Chelsea were told to come back in 12 months when they made contact last January.
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