Yuri Zhirkov Wants Game Time With Chelsea Or A New Club

Chelsea shelled out £18M for Russian Yuri Zhirkov, but the winger is ready to request a move to another club if he doesn't get more first team minutes under Carlo Ancelotti.

It's understandable: Zhirkov has featured just 28 times in the Premiership for Chelsea in a season and a half. That isn't good reading for any established international player. The winger was quoted in the Guardian as saying:

My only target at the moment is to get back into the main Chelsea team. If I'm successful with that, all the other issues will resolve themselves. But if I fail to achieve that between now and the summer, I will start thinking of other possibilities.

It isn't all down to Carlo Ancelotti's selection of starting 11 players. The man once dubbed the "Russian Ronaldinho" and who was nominated in 2008 for the Ballon d'Or has been a bit part player at Stamford Bridge due partly to his inability to stay fit.

Regardless, Zhirhov himself doesn't seem to think injury problems are justification for his lack of first team opportunities at Chelsea. What do you think?