Russian winger Yury Zhirkov is set to return to Russia having signed for Anzhi Makhachkala for an undisclosed fee.
Zhirkov struggled to hold down a starting place in the Chelsea side and became frustrated with life in England. The fee is thought to be around £13m but nothing has been confirmed.
Since making his £18m move from CSKA, the Russian has only made 49 appearances for the club – he made an appearance before Anzhi’s home match against Tom Tomsk on Saturday.
Where he told fans: “I hope to make my Anzhi debut in our next game against Spartak Moscow.”
Even though Zhirkov is in Russia, Andre Villas-Boas confirmed talks are ongoing but nothing had been finalized:
“Yury is in between reaching a full agreement, between club and player, with Anzhi and in the end it was mostly his decision.”“It is a great financial offer for him, it is a return home and I think he has decided to part company.”
By Scott Balaam
Twitter @theshed11
Did AVB watch the Community Shield? United was simply faster. City’s players picked up yellow cards because of late tackles. Fast & agile is better than big & strong. Most of Chelsea’ players are big, and a few in their thirties are off the pace. Chelsea must get younger, faster, and more agile, or United will win again.