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Chelsea chairman adamant Cole is not Madrid bound

Ashley Cole was a member of the England team that failed at the World Cup © Getty Images

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Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck says there is "no doubt" that Ashley Cole will remain at the club this summer and has warned the defender that he would still face intrusion into his private life if he did join Real Madrid.

Cole is a target for his former manager at Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho, and it has been suggested that his antagonistic relationship with the English press and public could convince the 29-year-old to seek solace in a move to Spain.

Cole has been the subject of a succession of tawdry tabloid stories in recent months, contributing to his divorce from the popular X-Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy, and was recently booed when he arrived for the wedding of his former Arsenal and England team-mate, Sol Campbell.

But Buck, who believes Cole must work to end the stream of negative headlines, does not expect that Cole would enjoy a lower profile in Spain and is adamant Chelsea will not sell the left back.

"Ashley Cole is not for sale," Buck told The Guardian. "That's the bottom line on that. There's no doubt that he's going to be a Chelsea player this season.

"Ashley is a superb player. He is a delight to deal with around the football club, he gets on very well with everyone, he trains very well and he is really a model athlete.

"Obviously, he is not happy with how his private life has become the focus of everything around him and I think we'd like to work with him so that he has a bit of a lower profile. We don't think the problem will change if he went to somewhere else outside of the UK, so I think we want to work with him here to make his personal life more enjoyable.

"We say to all our players that might have personal issues that we want to help them as much as we can and even Carlo [Ancelotti, the manager] has said that on several occasions.

"There is a limit to what we can do but obviously we want to support our players and we want them to be happy not only on the pitch but also in their private lives. If you are not happy in your private life, it's hard to focus on your professional life."

Buck has also underlined that Chelsea have no intention of selling Didier Drogba after the player's agent said on Tuesday that Manchester City were interested in his client. That claim was denied by both clubs in official statements.

"The club position is pretty straightforward," Buck said. "Didier had the golden boot, Didier had a great season, Didier is an important part of our plans for this season and the future and he is not for sale."

Chelsea have failed with a £20 million offer for Santos wonderkid Neymar and are believed to be in the market for new players having only added Yossi Benayoun to their first-team squad so far this summer. However, Buck maintains that Carlo Ancelotti is not advocating an overhaul of his Double-winning squad.

Chelsea have actively worked to reduce the average age of their squad having released Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti. Deco is also expected to return to Brazil.

"We're very happy with the squad we have now," Buck said, "so if there are any more additions, it will be fine-tuning. Whether or not they'll work out, who knows? We'll just see how it goes over the next six weeks."

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