Chelsea would have to agree to terminate the Colombian’s loan in order for him to be free to link up with Zenit for the latter half of the campaign.
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Zenit Saint Petersburg manager Andre Villas-Boas has ruled out any potential move for Chelsea striker Radamel Falcao in January, despite confirming his side’s interest in signing him in the summer.
However, Villas-Boas has confirmed that while he tried to sign Falcao in the summer before he joined Chelsea, the chance of a deal happening now is unlikely.
But the Portuguese says that a move is not possible, telling Zenit’s official website: “I haven’t had a conversation with Jose, the player belongs to Chelsea, on loan from Monaco”.
Rules stipulate teams must field no more than six foreign players at any one time – one fewer than the previous year – and, as Zenit now have eight foreign first-team players, a move is ‘”difficult”.
Villas-Boas explained that Russian rules and restrictions along with financial rules and Falcao’s salary were major obstacles to reuniting with his former star.
“It’s hard to bring such a player to Russian Federation with the rules and regulations we have”.
“We can’t bring him here because of the rules and we don’t have space”.
The striker has struggled to make an impact at Chelsea as he just has one goal this season, after having a miserable season at Manchester United and is now the understudy to Diego Costa. They worked together at Porto and enjoyed an undefeated treble-winning season, including winning the Europa League.
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“We have [Artyom] Dzyuba, he scored two goals, his form is great for the club and the national team and he deserves respect”.
