Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou has been drafted into Ivory Coast’s Olympic Squad and will now miss the start of the season for Chelsea.
The 22-year-old will fly out to Beijing and will miss Chelsea’s opening two fixtures against Portsmouth and Wigan.
Kalou has received some attention from fantasy managers in pre-season, not least because in the Fantasy Premier League game he is classified as a mid-price midfield option.
His absence now looks likely to increase the first team opportunities of Joe Cole if Scolari opts for a 4-3-2 and Nicolas Anelka if a 4-4-2 is the preferred tactic. Only today Anelka expressed his desire for a starting role in a central attacking position.

