Chelsea defender Yuri Zhirkov will consider leaving the club if he does not secure regular first-team football in the final months of the season.
Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti paid £18m to land the 27-year-old full-back from CSKA Moscow in the summer of 2009, but he has struggled to establish himself in the starting XI, with Ashley Cole preferred at left-back.
And Zhirkov, who was Ancelotti’s first major signing after taking charge at Stamford Bridge, has now admitted he may have to leave the reigning Premier League champions if he continues to be overlooked by the Italian.
The Russia international, who recently returned from three months out with an Achilles injury, told The Sun: “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.”