Florent Malouda has been ordered to train with the reserves as his Chelsea career hit a new low today.
Twenty four hours after being left out of Chelsea’s Champions League squad the winger used his Twitter account to show just how far he has fallen.
Posting a picture of the building which only the Under-21s use and is in a different area to where the first-team players go, he said: “This is where I’ll train for my last season with the blues!!!”
It is a humiliating position for Malouda, who joined from Lyon for £13.5million in 2007.
Standard Sport understands Malouda told the club he wanted to leave early in the summer and Chelsea tried to help him find a new team — particularly in Brazil. Vasco Da Gama came closest to a deal but it is believed he refused to accept a pay-cut on his £90,000-a-week salary.
There were reports in France yesterday that Lyon were interested but they could not afford him either and Chelsea were not prepared to pay part of his wages for him to move on loan.
Chelsea have spent £74m on attacking midfielders Eden Hazard, Oscar, Victor Moses and Marko Marin and coach Roberto di Matteo no longer sees Malouda in his plans. He has not played at all this season, which is in stark contrast to the 49 appearances for club and country he made last term.
The Turkish transfer window closes at midnight and Russia’s 24 hours later but it is believed no clubs from those leagues are interested in him.
Chelsea will try and offload Malouda when the European window reopens in January, although he still has a squad number and can play in the Premier League. However, the Frenchman seems happy to pick up his salary for one more season and leave on a free transfer next year.
