Because less players equal more space to pass and move

CHELSEA UNSURE ON MALOUDA

The Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo has said that he is not sure whether the French international Florent Malouda will play for the club again. The 31-year-old has recently been frozen out of the first team action and has been ordered to train with the reserves.

The Chelsea manager Roberto de Matteo has said that he has taken this decision along with the players due to the fact that Florent Malouda was not in his plans this season. The French international is out of contract at the end of the season. He already tried to engineer a move away from the club in the summer, but the proposed move to Brazilian club Santos fell through due to his excessive wage demands.

He recently posted on the social networking site Twitter that he has been forced to train with the reserves team. When asked about the incident, the Chelsea manager has said that he is almost sure that Florent Malouda will not feature for Chelsea again. He has said that there is a possibility that the 31-year-old could still leave the club in the January transfer window. The former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas banished Alex and Nicolas Anelka from the first team action in similar circumstances last season.

"They have accepted the decision that has been made by us, and they're just going to focus on their targets for this season. Over the past, there's been some expression of the player to part company, but it hasn't happened. So we've moved forward, brought in other players and they're the ones we're going to work with this season. I don't know, only the future will tell. But he's with the Under-21s. The transfer window doesn't open again until January," Di Matteo told the Sky Sports News when asked about Florent Malouda and his future.