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Juan Sebastian Veron, who was a notable omission from Chelsea's side at Middlesbrough on Sunday, has been asked to increase his fitness before their next match.
Chelsea said on Monday that the Argentine did not play in the 2-1 premier league victory because he had been left behind in London to undergo intense fitness training.
The club's website quoted coach Claudio Ranieri as saying Veron is not yet working as much as he has in the past.
"Veron was used to a more intense training regime at Lazio," a Chelsea
spokesman explained. Veron helped Lazio win Italy's Serie A title in 2000, the
year before joining Manchester United. He moved to Chelsea in July. Ticketmaster
Chelsea said Ranieri and Veron agreed that the Argentina midfielder should make the best of a week without international commitments after Veron's below-par performance in last week's shock 2-0 Champions League defeat at home to Besiktas.
Unlike some of his European team mates involved in the final round of Euro 2004 qualifiers on Saturday, Veron and Hernan Crespo, who headed Sunday's late winning goal, are not needed by Argentina this week. Ticketmaster
The next rounds of South American World Cup qualifiers are scheduled for mid-November, coinciding with the Euro 2004 playoffs. Ticketmaster
Chelsea's next
match is a premier league trip to Birmingham City on October 14 for a game in
hand that could see them remove Arsenal from the top of the standings five days
before they take on the present leaders at Highbury.