ASHLEY COLE is expected to sign for Chelsea within the next
ten days.
And Arsenal will make up for his departure by swooping for French World Cup star Lilian Thuram.
England defender Cole has made up his mind he no longer has a future with the Gunners – and London rivals Chelsea are poised to win the race for his signature.
Arsenal have privately conceded defeat in their attempts to persuade the 25-year-old to stay at the club and will now hold out for a £20m fee.
The Premiership champions will have no trouble finding the cash and have already started clearing a space in their squad by offloading Spanish flop Asier Del Horno to Valencia.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho says there will only be one more arrival at Stamford Bridge this summer and wants that deal completed ahead of the club’s trip to America at the end of the month.
Left-back Cole is currently on honeymoon but once he returns, Chelsea expect to tie up his transfer quickly.
Mourinho said: "I don’t think there will be big movement. We can have one player to arrive and one to leave.
"I think other teams will work more than us on transfers. We have kept all the good players who were important for us last year and we have some new ones with a lot of quality."
The Gunners are bracing themselves for an attack by Cole over the way they handled his pay negotiations when his autobiography My Defence is published next month.
The defender will hit out over a bust-up at the training ground during the last campaign which appears to have sealed his departure.
In a preview to the book, he says: "The bust-up on the training ground proves to be the final insult in my deteriorating relationship with the club I once adored."
Cole’s outspoken views over the way he feels he was treated by Arsenal last season have convinced manager Arsene Wenger to look elsewhere for a left-back.
But his main concern is finding a top-class centre-back after Philippe Senderos was ruled out for the first two months of the season – and Juventus ace Thuram is the man he wants.
The Italians accept Thuram – who Spurs have also been tracking – wants to play elsewhere following their relegation to Serie B and Wenger has moved quickly to tempt his countryman to the Emirates Stadium.
Wenger is aware he needs to find a long-term solution in defence and will continue his pursuit of West Brom’s £10m-rated Curtis Davies.
But he is attracted by the fact he can sign Thuram on a free transfer – allowing the club to meet the 34-year-old’s wage demands of £70,000 a week on a short-term deal.
source:
www.dailystar.co.uk
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