Grace to Grass! Florent Malouda left for dead again

Euro glory: Malouda (right) pictured with Didier Drogba after winning the Champions League last year

This time last year Florent Malouda was still celebrating Chelsea's Champions League triumph after coming on as a substitute against Bayern Munich.

Yesterday the forgotten man of Chelsea's historic victory against Jupp Heynckes' side in the Allianz-Arena was isolated and alone at their Cobham training centre.

Isolated: Bogarde was ordered by Claudio Ranieri to train with the youth during his final season at Chelsea

There are echoes of Winston Bogarde, the £50,000 a week Dutch defender who was ordered to train with the youth in his final season at Chelsea in 2004.
Bogarde commuted from his home in Amsterdam and reported each day at Chelsea's old Harlington training centre to fulfil his contractual obligations.

Malouda's contract at Chelsea, which is worth £80,000 a week, does not end until June 30 and it is possible he may even be ordered to train until then.

Chelsea's under-18 team, who lost the FA Youth Cup final against Norwich, and the Under-21 Development Squad have packed up for the summer.

It's the penalty Malouda, who joined Chelsea in 2007 from Lyon, is paying for criticising Roberto Di Matteo's training methods and refusing to leave last summer.

Malouda, 32, has not been involved with the first team, who are in St Louis preparing to play a showpiece friendly against Manchester City today, since last summer.

Lone winger: Malouda will be released by Chelsea on June 30

His last was the Champions League final, when he came on as a 73rd minute substitute for rookie left-back Ryan Bertrand in the Amsterdam Arena.
He went on to make three appearances for France at Euro 2012 and returned to start preparing for the new season with Chelsea under Di Matteo.

The Chelsea winger was banished to the academy building after he refused to apologise to Di Matteo during the club's pre-season programme.

After Chelsea initially agreed to his request to leave, Malouda pulled out of a move to Mexico at the last minute and decided to stay at Chelsea for another year.

International: Malouda featured for France at Euro 2012 last year

The response, which was taken at boardroom level, was to order the France international midfielder to train with the Development Squad in another area of Chelsea's training ground.

Chelsea's hardline stance has cost them just over £4m in wages, but the football board maintain they made the right decision when they stripped Malouda of his first team privileges.

His locker was cleared and his car parking space was allocated to another player when he was sent to train with the academy.

Fall out: Malouda criticised the training methods of Di Matteo last summer

Incredibly his attitude has remained first class, passing on tips to some of Chelsea's young players as he saw out the last few months of his contract.

Nathan Ake, who made his first start for the senior team against Everton on the final day of the season, along with highly-rated young players such as George Saville and Todd Kane have all benefited from his advice.

He will eventually leave as a Champions League winner, but it's not the way he wanted to go out after six years at Stamford Bridge.

Young gun: Ake, 18, has benefited from Malouda's advice and recently made his first start for Chelsea