Jose Mourinho is planning talks with Ashley Cole (Picture: Getty)

Jose Mourinho may be planning to throw Ashley Cole a Chelsea lifeline after revealing he plans to hold further talks with the defender.

Cole, whose Chelsea contract expires this month, has been expected to depart Stamford Bridge having yet to sign a new deal with the club he’s been with since 2006.

Earlier this week, Chelsea veteran Frank Lampard announced he will leave the Blues this summer, but captain John Terry put pen to paper on a new one-year deal last month.

And with no definite decision yet made on Cole’s future, Blues boss Mourinho has hinted there may still be a chance for the left-back to remain in west London.




‘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.’

Chelsea have been linked with an array of left-backs, including Southampton teenager Luke Shaw and Felipe Luis of Ateltico Madrid.

But the Blues’ presence in the market for a left-sided defender may end should they perform a U-turn on Cole.

Meanwhile, Mourinho also admitted Lampard could return to Stamford Bridge in the future in a coaching capacity or as an ambassador.

‘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.

Frank Lampard announced his departure from Chelsea this week (Picture: AP)

‘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.’

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