Drogba regrets 'quit' talk

Didier Drogba has told Chelsea he will discuss his future with the club at the end of the season.

The star striker shocked the club yesterday when he said he wanted to quit the club in an interview with France Footballmagazine.

But, in a massive climbdown, he now regrets making his views public.

Drogba, who scored 33 goals last season, claimed "something was broken" at Chelsea following Jose Mourinho's departure and revealed he wanted to follow the Portuguese coach out of Stamford Bridge.

New boss Avram Grant steadfastly refused to make any comment on Drogba's controversial remarks at the club's pre-Middlesbrough media gathering today — insisting he wanted to speak with the Ivory Coast forward first.

Drogba has now issued a statement saying he "regrets" making his comments and would like to sit down and discuss his future at the end of the season.

Drogba declared: "On reflection, I regret making the comments I made in a recent interview public at this time.

"I am a Chelsea player and will be 100 per cent committed and supportive to my manager, my team-mates and the club.

"I will not be discussing my future any further until I meet privately with the club at the end of the season."

The club are hoping the player's climbdown, almost certainly the result of a meeting between Grant and Drogba after training today, will go some way to quelling any further dressing-room unrest.

Grant had earlier said: "I have not seen him yet. I need to do that first. It is internal business.

"I cannot tell you anything until I speak with him. Basically I don't like to speak about players in the paper, I like to discuss it with them.

"I have read many things that were not true, because I was on the inside, about problems in the dressing room.

"Now you know there was no problem in the dressing room until now and I hope it will continue like that. This attitude has brought us good results in a very difficult time.

"I am very happy with the atmosphere and the attitude of the players until now and I am sure that it will continue."