Didier Drogba has dealt Chelsea an additional blow on his departure to the African Cup of Nations by repeating his desire to move on in the summer. The Ivory Coast striker first revealed his wish to leave Stamford Bridge in the wake of José Mourinho’s departure last September and, despite performing well for Avram Grant, he has not changed his mind.

“It comes from me, I said what I am thinking, that I wanted to leave,” Drogba said. “Mourinho’s departure didn’t help. To the contrary, it made my desire to leave even bigger. I am not going to speak about my next club and my major objective is the ACN [African Cup of Nations] and winning all the interests we have to win when I’ll return for Chelsea.”

Dead certs

Sunderland have given a trial to Quinton Fortune, the former Manchester United midfield player. The 30-year-old was released by Bolton Wanderers last summer. Valeri Domovchiyski has arrived at Blackburn Rovers for a trial, with a view to a permanent deal. Levski Sofia have said that a fee of about £1.4 million has been agreed for the forward.

Watford have signed Lionel Ainsworth, the forward, who has played two matches while on loan from Hereford United since November. He has agreed a 2½year contract. Leeds United are close to signing Peter Sweeney, the midfield player, who is out of favour at Stoke City.

Decent bets

Djibril Cissé has attracted interest from five Barclays Premier League clubs. The forward left Liverpool for Marseilles last summer for about £6 million, but wants a return to England. West Ham United have had an inquiry turned down by Pape Diouf, the Marseilles president, who said that it was “out of the question” for Cissé to leave this month. Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Blackburn and Bolton have also been interested.

Tottenham have inquired about Adam Johnson, two years after they had a £1 million bid turned down for the Middlesbrough winger.

Norwich City have made an offer of about £700,000 for Valentin Iliev, the CSKA Sofia and Bulgaria defender

Long shots

Lukas Podolski, the Bayern Munich forward, is attracting strong interest from Manchester City. Sven-Göran Eriksson, the City manager, has been alerted to the player’s possible availability. Gianluca Zambrotta is being watched by Tottenham and Chelsea. The Barcelona and Italy full back has two years left on his contract at the Nou Camp.

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