Chelsea latest: Imminent signings ahead

Recent Twitter convert Ashley Cole has rejected recent media reports that the left-back was set to leave Chelsea. The 31-year-old has a year remaining on his contract and has been linked with moves to Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United but dismissed the claims on the social networking site: 'until Chelsea don't want me I'm #cfc4life'. The former Arsenal player revealed contract talks have just begun and reports of his £200,000 per week wage demands had no foundation: 'Contract talks have not stalled just started, and 200k are you for real, I'd never ask for that..'

Chelsea are set to sign two new players before Sunday’s Community Shield match against Manchester City. The most likely of new arrivals is Wigan’s Victor Moses and a bid of £8m – although Wigan want £10m - for the 21-year-old striker is expected to convince Wigan to sell the youngster who only has a year remaining on his contract. However, the move for the young striker will not deter any move for another striker as Moses is seen as a future prospect rather than an immediate impact player. It is believed that the club will continue in their pursuit of Porto’s Hulk or André Schürrle as a replacement for the departed Didier Drogba and as a complement to Fernando Torres.

Another imminent signing could be Marseille right-back Cesar Azpilicueta. Chelsea have sought after a right-back this summer after Jose Bosingwa’s departure and the 22-year-old Spaniard could be closer to a move as Marseille president Vincent Labrune disclosed that Chelsea had made ‘a serious bid’. Additionally, Marseille have already lined up a replacement in free transfer Marc Boenisch should the Spaniard complete his move.

The European Champions have disappointed in pre-season thus far only winning one game and fell to a 3-1 loss against Brighton on the weekend. Di Matteo named a strong side to start the game and Frank Lampard finished to take the Blues into the lead but Brighton equalised before adding two more goals to add further misery to Chelsea’s faltering pre-season.

Roberto Di Matteo has called for fans to be patient with £35m signing Eden Hazard. 'He is a young man, he has come from a different league in France and we need to give him time to adapt,’ he said of the Belgian. The manager has also demanded an improvement from players after their lacklustre performance against Brighton and downplayed suggestions that the team’s style would radically change consequent of the new acquisitions.

New signing Oscar will wear the No.11 shirt this season. The shirt had previously been worn by Didier Drogba but became available after the Ivorian departed the club this summer. Oscar will hope to replicate some of the success his predecessor had brought.

image: © Tom Cuppens

Tomo Taka

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Tomo Taka is a young writer who seeks out insightful stories from the world of sport. He looks to analyse and speculate on relevant sporting topics and in doing so capture the story from a unique angle. Tomo's main interests are football, NFL and Formula One and he has a firm grasp of all other sports. As he makes his first forays into writing, he hopes he can entertain and interest the site's readership and offer a captivating view of the day's sporting stories.