Football: Chelsea Manager Carlo Ancelotti reaffirms Ashley Cole’s place, welcomes Michael Essien’s return
Carlo Ancelotti the Chelsea Manager has insisted that the English left back Ashley Cole is not going anywhere and will remain with the Blues. Carlo, also, said that there is no truth about Chelsea making a huge bid to sign Liverpool’s striker Fernando Torres.
Cole had been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, several big names including Real Madrid were mentioned as his likely destination. Ancelotti said that Ashley Cole is a very important player for Chelsea and he is a big part of the clubs long term plans. So he will stay put.
The Italian said that Torres is definitely a great striker, but we already have a number of quality goal scorers at the club, and there is no room to sign another one.
There was good news for Ancelotti in a pre-season warm up game. Michael Essien, who missed the World Cup in South Africa due to a knee injury, is finally back to full fitness, and announced his arrival with the winner in a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace.
Ashley Cole however was not part of the Chelsea team in the friendly match. The England defender is still on extended leave following the World Cup campaign.
Even though, Cole was not with the team, he still was the centre of discussion pre and post match. There is huge speculation that Real Madrid’s new manager, Jose Mourinho, has said that he would love to have a player like Cole in his team. Cole, who has just separated from his wife Cheryl, is believed to be desperate to move away from England to have a fresh start.
Ancelotti admitted that he has not had a one-on-one talk with Cole yet, but he knows that his player will not want to move as he knows Cole is happy at the club.
While once again commenting on Torres, Ancelotti said since they have players like Didider Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, and, Salomon Kalou there is no reason for the club to want another striker. He added that a very capable striker like Daniel Sturridge is on the fringe and cannot get a game in the first team. Ancelotti added that yes, if the team needed reinforcements up front we would have considered looking for Torres or anyone with quality. Since there is no need so the club will not make any such offer.
Ancelotti was delighted to have his African Midfielder back after a long layoff from injury. The former AC Milan boss said that Essien looked fit and mobile in the warm up game. He needs to have more game time to get back to his best but the signs look good and the team looks set to defend the Premier League title. Essien had not played a single game for Chelsea in the final third of the 2009-10 Season. He was plagued by a knee ligament injury since January and was also not able to captain his country in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. However, Ghana did make it to the quarter finals of the World Cup without him.
Another African star in the Chelsea line-up, John Obi Mikel, also, made a comeback. He was also recovering from a knee injury.
The Nigerian Midfielder had surgery on his knee in May, and has not played since then. The manager though seemed to be satisfied with his recovery.
The team that played in the Friendly against Crystal Palace included Peter Cech, and, defender Alex. These two were the only other first team players in the lineup apart from Mikel and Essien, the rest of the team comprised of reserve players and recruits from the youth teams of under-17 and under-15.
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