Chelsea boss confident Ashley Cole will stay at the Bridge

The Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo is confident that Ashley Cole will sign a new contract with The Blues before January. The 31 year old’s current contract runs out in the summer and Chelsea aren’t willing to lose one of their best players on the cheap, or even worse on a Bosman Transfer if he cannot agree on a contract by 30th June. In January, if no new contract had been agreed, Cole would be free to talk with other clubs, about making a switch to their club in the summer. But Di Matteo is very confident that this will not be the scenario and we will still see Cole in a Chelsea shirt next season.

Di Matteo said: “I’m very optimistic that it will be dealt with before that (January), he has become a legend – he is now Chelsea through and through, but I wouldn’t say it’s just happened recently. He’s been here many years and has contributed a lot to this club.”

Although Di Matteo didn’t confirm nor deny if Cole was currently in talks with the Chelsea Board, its understood that it is in Cole’s best wishes to stay with the club. The left-back scored his first goal in 28 months on Saturday to give Chelsea a 1-0 win over Stoke City and afterwards Di Matteo congratulated the Englishman on his efforts.

“He’s a fantastic pro, which I’m not sure whether you know. Somebody that’s the first one out in training, one of the first into the building with JT [John Terry], trains every day like a professional, reliable, somebody that you could go to war with. And he’s a very quiet guy as well. He’s very private at his own stuff. He’s one of the best left-backs in the world.”

The Chelsea man joined from Premier league and London rivals Arsenal back in 2006, in a deal that involved William Gallas (now at Tottenham Hotspur) moving the other way plus £5 million at the time. Probably one of the best bits of business Chelsea has done in the Abramovich era!