Iker Casillas Confident Chelsea Left-Back Ashley Cole Will Make Move To Real Madrid

Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole is close to securing a £30 million move to Real Madrid, according to the Spanish club's goalkeeper, Iker Casillas.

Cole was one of Chelsea's outstanding performers last season, helping the club to a Premier League and FA Cup double, but has reportedly grown disillusioned with English football.

Cole has become a public hate figure since he was caught cheating on his wife, Cheryl, last year and is eager for a move abroad.

And Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas believes a £30m transfer to the Bernabeu may be imminent.

"From what I am hearing the signs look good," Casillas said to the Sun.

"I have only briefly spoken to people at the club but I am confident that he can be a Real Madrid player next year. I think it will be the right move for him both professionally and personally.

"A clean break from England is hopefully something he is very interested in."

If Cole does join Real Madrid, it will see him reunite with his former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, who brought him to Stamford Bridge from Arsenal in an acrimonious transfer saga four years ago.

"It will be his last big contract and who better to sign for than his old coach Mourinho at Real," Casillas added.

"He will know better than anybody this club will be successful under Jose. Jose has proved he buys players and makes them the very best in the world in their position.

"With Ashley he doesn't need to do that because he's already the best left-back in the world. Jose knows all about him and it comes as no surprise to me he is very much on Madrid's radar."

Paris St. Germain President Hopeful Of Keeping Arsenal And Chelsea Target Stephane Sessegnon

Paris St. Germain president Robin Leproux is convinced Arsenal and Chelsea target Stephane Sessegnon would enjoy a "magical season" if he stayed at the club.

Sessegnon, 26, has been linked with a switch to the Premier League duo after he stated his wish to leave the capital club this summer. The midfield schemer has been in impressive form since joining from Le Mans two years ago and has grabbed eight goals in 63 Ligue 1 appearances.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is understood to see the £10 million-rated star as a replacement for Cesc Fabregas, while Carlo Ancelotti wants to add some creativity to his team. With Tottenham Hotspur and Everton also interested, the Benin international is not short of English suitors.

Speaking to RMC radio, however, Leproux was optimistic Sessegnon would spurn a transfer.

"I spoke to Stephane before the holidays," Leproux said.

"He is a great player, he has fantastic qualities and makes fans dream on the field.

"He is capable of a magic season for us and I told him that. We know we can count on him."

Chelsea Pull Out Of Race To Sign Germany & Werder Bremen Star Mesut Oezil

Chelsea are believed to have stopped pursuing Werder Bremen midfielder Mesut Oezil.

The 21-year-old was a pivotal force for Germany in the 2010 World Cup, scoring once and excelling as a creative playmaker as he helped his country to a third place finish in the tournament.

The youngster's contract with Werder expires next season, and he recently maintained that he would honour his deal with the Bundesliga club.

Now the Sun reports that Premier League/FA Cup double-winners Chelsea have pulled out of the chase to procure the services of the former Schalke player.

However, it has also been reported that Chelsea are still interested in the services of Oezil's Germany team-mate, the Stuttgart midfielder Sami Khedira.

Carlo Ancelotti Backs Milan Coach Massimiliano Allegri To Succeed

Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti believes Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri will succeed in recasting the mindset at San Siro following a failed campaign last term.

The Rossoneri ended up empty handed as hands appeared tied. But ex-Milan boss Ancelotti has said Allegri will break the shackles and help the club refind its feet as a new era begins.

"Allegri is in the right frame to express all his possibilities given the organization at the club. He can do his best," Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia.

While Allegri's ambition to revive the embers of success is the key to development, the Blues man is assured the learning curve will deliver top marks.

"Milan are going through a period of transition and I think players that were not great last season will produce more this year," he concluded.

Ray Wilkins Confirms Jon Obi Mikel & Michael Essien Are Close To Returning For Chelsea

Chelsea midfielders Jon Obi Mikel and Michael Essien are set to give manager Carlo Ancelotti a boost ahead of the new season, with Blues' assistant manager Ray Wilkins confirming that the two African stars are nearing returns from injury.

Both players were forced to miss the World Cup with knee injuries this summer, but both could be available for Chelsea's opening Premier League fixture against West Bromwich Albion on August 14.

"Jon Obi is slightly in advance of Michael Essien but they are both working very well indeed," Wilkins told his club's official website.

"They have been working double sessions for the last week and we will get them really firing before the season starts."

One new arrival at Stamford Bridge this summer has been Israeli winger Yossi Benayoun, signed from Liverpool.

The new boy is apparently enjoying the way pre-season is handled at Stamford Bridge - in contrast to what used to happen at Anfield.

"Yossi is doing well. He has said the pre-season training here is so different to what they did at Liverpool where they didn't use a ball," Wilkins explained.

"They ran and they ran and they ran. But here we use the ball all the times and we feel we get the best out of the guys by using the ball day in day out. I think Yossi is quite enjoying himself."

Meanwhile, Ancelotti's assistant at Chelsea also admitted that managing the fitness of those Blues stars who have been at the World Cup would be a challenge this season.

"Normally after a World Cup you find those players who come back from it, it is about December when they seem to hit a wall," he added.

"It is very important we manage them in the correct manner and we get them to a level where they won't be as fit as we want them to be, but as they creep into the new year their fitness will come back.

"The players we have got here now, we have to get them into the right fitness condition so that they are prepared to play, because we might not be able to use the guys coming back from the World Cup for the first couple of games.

"These young men have to be primed and ready to perform."

Cork's Golden Chance!

With the majority of the senior players yet to return to pre-season training after participation in the World Cup, Chelsea TV did a wonderful interview with Jack Cork.

Many suggest that the next month or so could be a seminal moment in the Chelsea career of Jack Cork.

Watched by the management team, in training, Cork knows that this is his chance to impress and perhaps earn the right to spend the season at Chelsea, possibly eyeing up a first team squad spot.

Since joining Chelsea, Cork has flourished but always away on loan. A successful season at Scunthorpe saw him voted their 'Player of the Year` and also their 'Young Player of the Year` in the same season.

Spells at Southampton and Watford followed before last season Cork was given the opportunity to try his luck in the Premier League with Burnley.

Now, Cork could do nothing to prevent Burnley from being relegated, to the Championship, but he still put in some stirring performances and was fortunate to notch up his first Premier League goal, against Spurs of all teams.

When questioned about his ambitions for the season, he modestly replied that he wanted to impress in pre-season training and then see where that took him.

With Chelsea playing Crystal Palace this weekend and with the squad still shorn of several of its big names, this is the ideal platform for Cork to shine.

A decent performance could well see him remain in the starting eleven for the friendly fixtures that follow, if so, this could well be the season that Jack Cork becomes a fully fledged member of the first team squad.

Profiling the Future - Fabio Borini

Borini was signed by Chelsea from Bologna aged 16, with a reputation of being a natural goal scorer who could make perfect runs and finish from the tightest of angles.

With competition from the Italian mega clubs Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus; credit must be given to Arnesen in pulling this one off. He never managed a first team appearance for Bologna but his statistics at junior level were amazing. He scored 53 times in 77 appearances between the age of 12 and 17 at academy and reserve level.

Having been snapped up by Chelsea, he was introduced to the academy level at first but an injury prone first year saw him make little impact on the blues. He made only 3 starts with a goal to his name. This however did not stop him from firing the following year as the 2008/09 season proved to be the wowing year for the player.

At youth level the Italian struck 11 goals in 10 games and earned immediate promotion to the reserve side. Here too he was amazing as he played against the likes of Stoke's Amdy Faye and United's Jonny Evans to still notch up 6 goals in 10+2 games.

People were now taking notice.

The arrival of Ancelotti saw the player rise further in prominence. When asked about the Italian Ancelotti said:

"Borini is an 18-year-old from Bologna who is very, very, very interesting.'

He was included in the Champions League squad and made his debut appearance in the Premier League, in the 89th minute in the 3-0 win over Spurs, though his involvement was minimal.

He got a second chance to showcase his talents with 13 minutes in a win over Wolves. I will never forget the moment in the 91st minute when a defence splitting ball was captured amazingly by Borini who easily managed to round the keeper.

Sadly the pass had been slightly over-hit so having beaten the keeper, Borini found the angle to be too tight and hit the side netting. A glimpse of his ability!

His first start saw an impressive display against QPR and he followed up with short appearances in an FA Cup match and the game against Apoel.

He is yet to score for the first team, though with barely 150 minutes under his belt that is hardly a concern. For the reserves this year he scored 4 times in 6 starts and 2 sub appearances.

Borini's international career has been quite prolific with an amazing 11 in 23 appearances and is one of the youngest players in the U-21 side, now 19 but earning his debut aged 18.

Christened the new Shevchenko by the press, Borini's place in the squad should give blues fans great optimism about the future, given how good the original Shevchenko became under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti.

My Favourite Games: Alex

Overlooked by his country for this summer's World Cup, the Chelsea man still has his homeland on his mind as he picks out two treasured memories, one of a game played in and another watched on TV 16 summers ago.

Favourite game played:

Before he arrived at Chelsea, where he has won two FA Cups and a Barclays Premier League title, Alex had regularly picked up silverware with PSV in Holland and prior to that, with Santos in Brazil where he began his career.

As the club that nurtured Pele, Santos has a fine reputation for developing talent, and also brought through household names Robinho and Elano at the same time Alex was coming through.

Back in 2002, our man was a raw 20-year-old central defender as his club reached the final of the Brazilian championship, despite finishing eighth in the regular league season. Progressing past Sao Paulo and Gremio, they would meet Corinthians in the final.

The first leg brought a 2-0 victory with goals courtesy of Alberto and Renato, before the second leg a week later, in which the future Manchester City pairing of Robinho with a penalty, and Elano netted important goals on the way to a 3-2 victory.

'It was a big final for Santos against Corinthians, the Sao Paulo rivals, and we won 3-2 and won the league championship,' he recalls.

'For me it was very, very good, my first big trophies as a professional and my friends Robinho and Elano both scored for us.'

Favourite game watched:

Most people who remember this 1994 World Cup Final will recount an uninspiring affair between Italy and Brazil, the sides that had produced such a thrilling spectacle in Mexico in 1970.

Although both sides had chances, the Brazilians for Bebeto and Romario, the Italians for Daniele Massaro and Roberto Baggio, it ended goalless and the World Cup was decided on penalties for the first time ever, in the midday heat of Los Angeles.

Franco Baresi, Italian captain, shot over before Gianluca Pagliuca saved from Marcio Santos to level matters. Claudio Taffarel then saved Massaro's shot and Dunga converted, meaning Baggio would need to score to give his side a chance.

The Divine Ponytail stepped up, and duly blasted his penalty over the bar, handing Brazil their first World Cup success in 24 years. For Alex, it was a major moment in his childhood, having just turned 12.

'The final of the World Cup in 1994, people say it was not exciting but it was very nervous and exciting for Brazilian people, it was a long time since we had won the trophy and it was the first time that I saw it happen,' says the defender.

'We played at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles last summer against Inter, where that final was, and it was a good experience.'