Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun says that he is looking to impress boss Roberto Di Matteo now he has returned to the club
Chelsea midfielder wants to do his best after loan at Arsenal
Midfielder Yossi Benayoun has returned to pre-season training at Chelsea and says that he is out to impress boss Roberto Di Matteo after spending last season on loan at Premier League rivals Arsenal.
A lot has changed at Chelsea while Benayoun has been in North London. Manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked and replaced by Di Matteo and the team went on to win both the FA Cup and Champions League.
The 32-year-old Israel international captain was one of the first players to come back for pre-season, and has been training alongside new team-mates Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Marko Marin.
Benayoun says that he enjoyed his time at Arsenal, where he played 25 times last season, scoring six goals in the process and helping the club reach third place and qualify for the Champions League.
"Now I am back at Chelsea for pre-season, the hard part of football, and I'm trying to do my best in front of Robbie, so we will just have to see what happens in the future," Benayoun told the club's
official website.
"A lot has happened since I was last here. Unfortunately it didn't work out with Andre Villas-Boas, results weren't good enough but Robbie took the team, and we won the FA Cup and Champions League. I kept in touch and it was just great to see the club winning these trophies.
"I was at home for the Champions League Final, as the next day I was joining up with the national team. It was amazing to watch and enjoy. When you thought Bayern would win it, suddenly Didier Drogba was there like always to score an important goal and of course I was so happy for the club, the players and the owner. Hopefully this season the club will win a few trophies again.
Talking about last season, Benayoun added: "First of all the most important thing was that I enjoyed my time with Arsenal, and football-wise, I can separate the season into two parts.
"When you play more you enjoy it more and in the last few months of the season I played more and in important games, and I scored a few important goals so I finished on a high, and we had a strong finish. It was a good feeling, I was happy at the end of my time there, and the fans were very supportive of me.
"The club was happy to finish third. At the beginning of the season people were saying Arsenal would never be in the top four because we were 16th, 17th in the table, but there was a lot of quality in the team and we had a very good run. We did it in the end and it was important to finish above Spurs, because we all saw what happened after with the Champions League!"
