Manchester United have emerged as the new favourites to sign Joe Cole.
Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have put the Reds into pole position to sign Cole, with United one of three clubs offering the Chelsea play-maker a contract.
Cole will be a free agent when his current Stamford Bridge deal ends on July 1.
But although he has been unable to agree terms with Chelsea, he has been boosted by United’s offer, along with bids from Spurs and Italian giants Juventus
Cole, expected to be named in Fabio Capello’s final 23-man England squad for the World Cup on Tuesday, moved to Chelsea from West Ham in 2003.
At Stamford Bridge he has won three titles, two League Cups, and three FA Cups, and went within a whisker of winning the Champions League two years ago.
But the England midfielder’s bargaining position was weakened by a long injury lay-off and a loss of form last season, despite a stunning goal against United (right).
Chelsea are unwilling to put Cole into the same pay bracket as Frank Lampard and John Terry, leaving him to consider his future.
Spurs had been favourites to land him with boss Harry Redknapp, who worked with Cole at West Ham, able to offer Champions League football.
But Redknapp, who has been monitoring Cole’s situation over the last 18 months, privately fears the player has already opted to move to Old Trafford.
Manchester City had also shown interest but have now switched their attentions to Aston Villa star James Milner.
It leave United as favourites to prise away a player Fergie has admired ever since Cole’s time in the youth ranks at West Ham.
A year ago a Cole exit from Stamford Bridge would have seemed highly unlikely but yesterday Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti gave a hint why he sees the England man as expendable.
The Italian, who led Blues to their first-ever domestic Double last season, seems to believe he has a surplus of players who can do Cole’s job.
“The strength of a team is to have players with fantastic skills and players who can play in different positions on the pitch,” said Ancelotti.
“I have a lot of those – Ivanovic, Malouda, Lampard, Ballack, and Essien. Then there is Anelka, who can play up front or can play wide, Kalou is the same. This is a very important thing because you can change the shape.
“We changed the shape three times this season, without problem. We played the Christmas tree formation at the beginning and we had a lot of advantages. But after 15 games our opponents were able to cover the space between the lines in our team so we changed.
“We used two strikers and one offensive midfielder. Then, after the first half against Fulham at Christmas when we were losing, we changed to use two wingers to open the pitch and use all the space to attack. It is important to surprise your opponents.”
Cole and his Chelsea team-mates Lampard, Terry and Ashley Cole will head off to South Africa in peak condition according to Ancelotti.
Ancelotti (left) believes the tough Premier League programme has left his men battle-hardened, dismissing suggestions that they will be too tired to give their best.
He said: “The tempo of the matches here in England is higher but in Italy there is more pressure on each game so there is more stress. This takes more energy. In England there is less stress than in Italy, so physically you can do better.
“I can speak about my players. Frank Lampard, John Terry, Joe Cole and Ashley Cole are fit and physically they will do a fantastic World Cup.”
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