adminLONDON. — Ashley Cole has revealed that he will be leaving Chelsea after eight years with the Stamford Bridge side.
The left-back has been used sparingly since Jose Mourinho returned to the club this season, with the manager preferring right-back Cesar Azpilicueta in his position.
Cole last night tweeted: “I am weighing up my options for playing next season with my agent and sadly it does not look like Chelsea will be one of them.”
Cole has made 229 appearances for the Blues, winning one Premier League, four FA Cups, a League Cup and the Champions League.
One player who could be arriving at Chelsea is striker Mario Mandzukic, who has cleared out his locker at Bayern Munich.
The forward, also a target for Arsenal, was left out of the squad for the German Cup final on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says he is not planning to sign any new players until after the World Cup.
The Portuguese has already begun planning for next season after captain John Terry was signed to a new one-year contract but left-back Cole has revealed his future lies away from Stamford Bridge after eight successful years in west London.
Mourinho had already admitted he was in the market for a new centre-forward after poor goal returns from Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba.
He told Sky Sports News: “Since the market will be open until 31st August, like it is, I think it will be more of the same. I think people (will) wait for the World Cup, wait for the first reaction of the first team, wait until after something happens.
“At Chelsea, the manager is the same, the basic structure of the team is the same, we don’t need the season to finish and the results of the season make the decisions about what we need and what we don’t need.
“Everything was done during the season, we knew perfectly what we wanted and I don’t think we have huge work to do during the summer really.” — The Mirror.
Online Reporter