Chelsea will help Ashley Cole clean up his image

Simon Johnson
16 Aug 2010

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck today revealed the club want to help Ashley Cole improve his image in order to make him more settled at Stamford Bridge.

Cole wanted to quit Carlo Ancelotti's Double winners for Real Madrid this summer after becoming fed up over the level of media scrutiny into his private life as well as becoming even more of a hate figure among many non-Chelsea fans.

The 29-year-old was jeered throughout England's friendly against Hungary last week even though he was one of the few players to have a good World Cup and was also targeted by West Brom supporters during the Blues' 6-0 Premier League win on Saturday.

Chelsea have already blocked Cole's hopes of an escape to Real but are conscious there is a problem with how the left-back is perceived across the country and feel they can assist in turning his fortunes around.

Buck said: “I think Ashley is fine. He is great around the club, is polite and helpful. We're not involved in his private life but we support him to a certain extent if we can.

“You would be unhappy too if you got the treatment he is getting by the media. He doesn't like that but I don't think it will be any different if he was in Spain or Italy.

“He has just got to work a little bit, with our help, on improving his image. He is a great player and everyone loves to watch him play and we just look forward like that. We do [rally around him] at executive level, as do the other players and management. We will do the best we can.”

The club did not wish to reveal how they intend to improve the public's perception of Cole. Buck came under fire himself last week after it was reported he was one of the Chelsea officials who met with Santos and Brazil star Neymar for talks over a transfer in New York.

Santos insist they have no interest in selling the 18-year-old and have threatened to report Chelsea to FIFA for making an illegal approach.

Buck has confirmed the club are interested in buying Neymar, who has a £28.75million release clause in his contract, but added in an interview with TalkSPORT: “There was no tapping up from Chelsea and I want to be clear on that. We are looking at several young Brazilian players and he is one of the players we have been looking at. Whether he becomes a Chelsea player at some point, who knows?”

Coach Ancelotti claimed on Saturday that Chelsea's spending is over having completed an £18.2m deal for Benfica midfielder Ramires.

However, the club are still assessing Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic and Shakhtar Donetsk wing-back Darijo Srna.

Buck said: “We are still looking at some things, whether they happen or not I don't know. Carlo is happy and confident with the squad we have. If there is another player or two — great, if not we're fine with what we have.”

Buck has hinted the club have had to change the bonus structure for players in order to reach their goal of breaking even.

“I really can't comment on the specific Chelsea situation because compensation agreements between the club and the players are confidential,” he said.

“But I can comment generally that the new rules on financial fair play by UEFA require a club to balance its' books. Any club wanting to play in Europe have to look very closely at their income and expenses and change things appropriately.”