Chelsea transfer rumours May 12th – Pato, Ireland, Schmeichel, Ballack and Ashley Cole!

The main bit of Chelsea transfer news today is that Ancelotti is planning a summer clearout of all the oldies in the team, to make room for the youngsters being promoted from the reserves, and perhaps a “marquee signing?”

We already know that Deco is on his way back to Brazil, and Juliano Beletti has also said that he has played his last game for the Blues. Today the Times reports that Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho are also going to be following them out the door, and they also think that Chelsea could get £10m for Carvalho. I doubt that very much myself. He could have joined Inter Milan last summer, but Jose Mourinho refused to pay more than a token fee even then.

They also report that the rumours about Ashley Cole’s departure following his much-publicised domestic troubles are wide of the mark. Chelsea made Cole one of our best paid players last year, and the player himself indicated that he had no intention of leaving.

“It has been a long time and this is my first title at Chelsea and now people will realise why I came here,” Cole said. “I came here to win the big ones, the Premier League or the Champions League. Hopefully we can get the Double and make history for this club. I am happy and hopefully there is more to come.”

That’s good news for Chelsea, but not so good is that Alexandre Pato has clearly said that he has no intention of joining Chelsea unless Milan decide to sell him.

“I want to remain at AC Milan and win everything with them,” said Pato.

“But I am a Rossonero player and my future will be decided by the club.”

“Carlo is a great person,” said Pato. “He helped me grow in Italy but I am under contract until 2014 and I am happy to remain at AC Milan.”

So it looks like Aguero will our great hope this summer, and he has already said that he is keen on a move, so let’s keep our fingers crossed!

Michael Ballack and Joe Cole are still in contract negotiations with Chelsea with Cole having to come to terms with a reduced contract or leave. I sincerely hope that they can come to an agreement. He has returned to his past form and could command fortunes on a Bosman if he does well at the World Cup.

Ballack is also worried about getting his talks completed before the World Cup. He said: “Roman Abramovich will only hold contract discussions once the season is over,” said Ballack.

“I don’t want to pass judgement on that and I have to accept it. But everything is becoming rather tight in terms of time.”

If either or both of these are allowed to leave, it is being said that Man City’s Stephen Ireland could be drafted in as a replacement. The tough-tackling hard man would be a good addition if City have a fire sale and let everyone go cheap, but to let Joey leave for nothing is NOT a good idea……

The last interesting rumour is the Notts County keeper Kaspar Schmeichel is being linked with a move to the Bridge. I know we got Ross Turnbull last year, but he isn’t looking like a quality keeper at the moment, and with Hilario also leaving we will have need of a better backup to Petr Cech. I reckon it must be worth bringing in Schmeichel on a free transfer……