Chelsea defender Ashley Cole’s contract talks has been stalled as he wants looks to increase his salary package to £200,000-a-week as this could be his final contract extension in the club.
Cole, 31, wants to stay at the Bridge, but Chelsea are unlikely to meet his wage demands and might let the contract to run down as they did the same with Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack. With his current deal which ends in 2013, Cole is attracting the attention of former Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti at big-spending Paris Saint Germain, as well as Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid, and is understood to be keen to go abroad rather than move to another club in the Premier League – with Manchester United recently linked – if he leaves Chelsea.
“Ancelotti liked Ashley a lot during his time at the Bridge, and would take him now, but PSG have spent an awful of money this summer already, so that isn’t likely, for even if they offered quite a big fee Chelsea won’t sell him now,” a source told ESPN. “Next summer will be different, but Chelsea have plenty of time to put forward an offer, and if it’s the right one then Ashley will sign a new deal at the Bridge. He loves it at Chelsea and ideally wouldn’t want to leave, but let’s be fair – this will be his last big contract and he is in a commanding position with his current deal expiring in a year.”
Cole has indicated his desire to stay with Chelsea for the final few years of his career, but it is now up to Roman Abramovich to sanction a pay rise of around £70,000-a-week or Cole has to reduce his wage demands if we wants to stay in London.