Jose Mourinho refuses to rule out new Chelsea deal for Ashley Cole

New deal for Ashley Cole?

Amid speculation that Ashley Cole has played his last game for Chelsea, Jose Mourinho intimated that the 33-year-old’s future has not been decided yet.

Cole’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires at the end of June and with no renewed terms forthcoming from his employers, the 107-cap England international’s days at Chelsea were thought to be numbered.

To add further fuel to the fire, reports emerged this week that Atletico Madrid left-back Filipe Luis is edging towards a switch to the captial, having failed to agree a new contract with the La Liga champions.

Nevertheless, Mourinho maintains that he’s not had the chance to sit down properly with the Blues veteran, like he did with Frank Lampard.

“With Frank Lampard I spoke a couple of weeks before the end of the Premier League, with Ashley I didn’t get that chance,” he said.

“They are different situations. I want to see what is going on, what is going to happen. But I will speak to him.”

Speaking on the end of Lampard’s 13-year Chelsea career, the Portuguese boss insisted it wasn’t the end of the Romford-born midfielder’s association with the club and that he’d welcome him back in a coaching capacity, even as his own assistant.

“You can’t imagine how difficult it was [to see Lampard leave]” he said. “But at the same time, I can feel some happiness about the process because, for sure, he comes back to Chelsea.

“Mr Abramovich – the No.1, the most important person – wants very much for Frank to be back, I want him to be back, the staff want him to be back, so he comes back, for sure.

“He can be a coach, he can start at the academy, he can start being my assistant at the same time because he is doing his coaching badges or he can start in a different role.

“He can decide: ‘I don’t want to start immediately at the coaching role, I want to be an ambassador.’”

“It’s not the end of Frank Lampard’s career in Chelsea. It’s just a little break.

“He is one of the most important players in the history of the club.”