Chelsea to discuss new deal with hero Drogba
Champions League winners also need to put full-time manager in placeThe Associated Press Posted: May 20, 2012 10:25 AM ET Last Updated: May 20, 2012 10:23 AM ET Read 0 comments0 Chelsea's Didier Drogba poses with the trophy after the Champions League final on Saturday. The club announced Sunday it will try to re-sign the man who won the game for the Blues. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck says the club will hold talks with forward Didier Drogba about a new contract next week and hopes to appoint a permanent manager "sooner rather than later."
Drogba, who scored the decisive penalty to defeat Bayern Munich in the shootout of the Champions League final on Saturday, is out of contract next month.
The 34-year-old Ivory Coast international joined the west London club from Marseille in 2004.
Buck says Sunday that Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay is likely "to sit down with his [Drogba's] agent this week and we'll see where it goes."
Buck added that the club intends to appoint a permanent manager prior to the pre-season tour of the United States that starts with a match against Seattle Sounders on July 18.