Didier Drogba wants to leave Stamford Bridge as soon as possible. The Ivory Coast striker has levelled a damning critique of the spirit in the club, complaining bitterly that something has been lost since the departure last month of José Mourinho as manager.

Drogba was reportedly in tears when Mourinho said his emotional farewells, prompting fears that the forward would be the first in an exodus of players that could destabilise the Barclays Premier League club. Drogba performed an about-turn last week when he reaffirmed his commitment, but now he has shifted again.

The loss of last season’s leading scorer will be viewed as a significant blow to the club, who trail Arsenal, the leaders, by seven points having played a game more and have struggled up front this term. Chelsea have scored only eight goals in nine league matches and cannot seem to rekindle the best from Andriy Shevchenko.

Drogba has said that he plans to leave, but is interested in moving only to AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona or Real Madrid, with Marseilles, his former club, also a possibility. He will turn 30 in March and is under contract until 2010, having signed a new four-year deal a year ago.

“I want to leave Chelsea,” he said in France Football today. “I have now come to the stage where I feel I have nothing else here [at Chelsea]. I am ready to see elsewhere. My decision has been taken. Nothing can keep me here any longer. I know now my intention is to leave and I won’t go back on this decision.”

Drogba showed power and poise in scoring the winning goal away to Valencia in the Champions League last month. It was his second goal of the campaign, after ending last season with 33 goals, the highest total for a Chelsea player since Kerry Dixon in 1984-85, and that despite spending most of the campaign without a strike partner or wingers to serve him.

“I have to get a change of scenery,” he said. “Since the day I arrived, I wanted to leave Chelsea and then again every summer. It took me some time to fall in love with Chelsea, but now I believe it’s time to move on to something else.”

The striker was known to be close to Mourinho, but he had said that he was willing to work with Avram Grant, the Portuguese’s successor as first-team coach. “The problem is that something has been broken with Chelsea,” he said. “The damage has been big in the dressing-room because we know now what happened and who caused Mourinho’s departure. Nothing can stop me from leaving now.”

Drogba has said that he will sit down with his agent to discuss the options and added that it makes no difference that Chelsea have pencilled in Ronaldinho, of Barcelona, and Kaká, of AC Milan, as their primary targets in the transfer window next summer.

“I will make everything clear to them,” Drogba said. “I know that Ronaldinho and Kaká are said to be coming here next season, but it will not change my desire to move. My dream is to win the Calcio, the Italian Cup or the Copa del Rey. I need new challenges, new horizons and these two countries really appeal to me.

“I need a club with whom I’d be ready to break my leg to win. I want to get back to playing with butterflies in my stomach for a club who make me dream. For me, there aren’t 50 clubs who could stimulate this sort of passion, just four: AC Milan, Inter, Barça and Real. Plus Marseilles. They have to sparkle.”

Chelsea have said that they hope Drogba will honour his contract. “As a top professional, we are sure Didier is committed to Chelsea and intends to honour that contract,” the club said in a statement.