Graphic: Bordeaux v Chelsea

It may have taken four months, but to judge from his furrowed brow and tetchy tone yesterday, Luiz Felipe Scolari has finally discovered one problem managing Chelsea that became familiar to his recent predecessors: the restlessness of Didier Drogba.

In his own head at least, Drogba has left Chelsea more times than Ray Wilkins, a former player and now assistant manager at Stamford Bridge, only to return as soon as he regains consciousness, but the Ivory Coast striker’s latest attempt to engineer an exit was clumsy even by his standards.

As Chelsea prepared to fly to France on Monday evening to play Bordeaux in the Champions League tonight, Drogba is understood to have been considering fleeing elsewhere, as he dined in West London with Pierre Frelot, his agent, Marco Branca, the Inter Milan technical director, and Jorge Mendes, the Portuguese agent who represents José Mourinho. The Inter coach issued the woolliest of denials yesterday, but it is inconceivable that he was unaware of the meeting. Mourinho spoke at length of his desire to sign Drogba after taking over at the San Siro last summer, but a formal bid was never forthcoming.

“I don’t know if the meeting took place between my agent and Drogba,” Mourinho said. “All I know is that I was with Rui Faria and our families having dinner. I am not sure of Drogba’s future, but I know his history at Chelsea and the last time I read something in an English newspaper there was talk of him staying there.”

Chelsea’s response was intriguing and, for the first time this season, not entirely united, as Scolari reacted angrily to questioning while club officials remained perfectly calm. Chelsea would have happily sold Drogba last summer after he disgraced himself by being sent off in the Champions League final and after an undistinguished start to the season, they remain open to offers, although no movement is expected during the January transfer window.

The 30-year-old has been out with a knee injury for much of this campaign, has yet to score a goal in the Barclays Premier League or Champions League and is serving a three-match domestic ban for throwing a coin at Burnley supporters during a Carling Cup defeat. If the meeting was an attempt to secure an extension to a contract that has only 18 months to run, the tactics backfired. As well as antagonising the club further, the Chelsea board has made it clear that it will not even begin negotiations until next summer.

Scolari had been planning to recall Drogba to the starting line-up in place of Nicolas Anelka this evening, although he reconsidered his decision and plumped for the France forward. Drogba will not be fined for talking to another club behind his employer’s back, but Scolari was clearly annoyed at the timing of the meeting.

“I don’t sleep with Didier,” Scolari said. “Where he was last night, I don’t know. I’m not the policemen for my players. I don’t know if he had permission to talk to them. Ask Peter Kenyon or Roman. I am only the coach.”

Scolari’s unusual moodiness also stems from his concerns before a game that Chelsea must not lose if they are to stay in control of group A. They travel poorly on the Continent, despite their fine domestic away record, with their last win coming nearly a year ago against Rosenborg. In addition to the Drogba enigma, the Brazilian is dealing with other problems familiar to his predecessors: the dread that follows a disappointing result and the anxiety before a big match. The phenomenon of Abramovich counting his pennies as the economy plunges into recession, however, is an unexpected development.

Scolari made sure to remind his players that they had already blown one chance to secure qualification by losing 3-1 away to Roma three weeks ago and he will not tolerate another slip-up. Chelsea, for whom Michael Ballack will return for the suspended Deco in midfield, should be too strong for a side whom they overwhelmed 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in September.

“We need to qualify tomorrow or against Cluj,” Scolari said. “We lost one chance against Roma and tomorrow is the second chance, but me or the players do not expect a third chance. This is the day.

“Maybe it’s because we’re more adapted to play away in England than in the Champions League. We play here for qualification, but we don’t think about Arsenal until after tomorrow. If we did, maybe tomorrow we’ll lose again.”

In the unlikely event that Chelsea do lose again, Scolari really will have something to be grumpy about.