Drogba and his agent were said to have met Inter representatives last week, fuelling speculation about a January exit for the belligerent forward, and Hodgson, a former coach of the Serie A giants, reckons he is in a win-win situation.

"All I know is that Drogba is a very good player playing at a big, big club but possibly with another big club after him so it's a nice situation to be in," Hodgson said.

"If Chelsea want to keep him and Inter want to sign him that's a lovely situation to be in. You can't go too far wrong on that one."

Drogba has endured a turbulent few months, battling a series of injuries and receiving a three-match ban for throwing a coin back into the crowd in the Carling Cup defeat to Burnley a fortnight ago.

Hodgson's own strikers are also under pressure, albeit for different reasons, as the team have scored just one away goal all season and have not yet won on the road.

The Englishman said it would not be a surprise if Inter boss Jose Mourinho, who coached Drogba at the Blues, wants to take him to Italy.

"It's a question of a big player playing at a big club and what decides which big club he plays at, there could be so many factors," Hodgson continued.

"Jose Mourinho knows him very, very well so if Drogba goes there he has got a manager who knows him very well.

"And the manager is also taking on a player he knows well and knows his qualities.

"Sometimes when you're assessing players or trying to recruit or scout players you see only what you see from the stand but when you work with the player you know exactly what you're getting.

"And I think that can be a great advantage.

"We all know Didier Drogba's qualities and only Jose Mourinho and (Inter president) Massimo Moratti know really what type of profile player they're looking for to go with (striker) Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

"If they have identified Drogba as having the right profile there's no reason why, if Chelsea wanted to sell him and he wanted to go, it couldn't be a very good match."