Andere Villas-Boas is confident Didier Drogba will sign a new contract at Chelsea but admits a deal is not yet close to being finalised.
The 33-year-old was on the bench for last weekend's Premier League opener against Stoke in favour of Fernando Torres and faces increased competition for a starting berth following the £17.7million arrival of Romelu Lukaku from Anderlecht.
Drogba's contract expires next summer and although he has indicated a willingness to end his career at Stamford Bridge, speculation has persisted he may move elsewhere in order to gain first-team football.
But Villas-Boas said: "We will reach an agreement. He is one of the most important players at the club and his willingness to continue is 100 per cent. It will be because of that that we will reach an agreement. It just doesn't happen in a week. It takes it's time."
Lukaku will not be unveiled to the press until Tuesday but he is available for tomorrow's home game against West Brom and Villas-Boas believes the
18-year-old has a tough task to break into the first team.
"He has tremendous physical qualities to play in the Premier League," said the Chelsea boss. "He is powerful, very strong in the challenges although, despite his size, he has an explosiveness and an ability to react quickly which looks pretty amazing.
"But he faces the biggest competition of his life with the forwards that we have with Fernando, Didier, Nicolas [Anelka], [Florent] Malouda and [Salomon] Kalou. He just has to break through this competitive level and he will get opportunities this year."
