Cole hit by Chelsea pay 'freeze'

London: Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay indicated on Monday that Joe Cole would have to lower his wage demands if the club are to agree a new contract.

Cole's deal runs out next month, which means he could leave on a "Bosman" free transfer, but Gourlay said he was "very conscious of controlling our salaries".

The 28-year-old wants a significant pay rise, taking him into the bracket of Chelsea's highest earners, on more than £100,000 (Dh548,042) a week. But Gourlay, without naming Cole, said: "Every time we push the wage levels up higher we have somebody else knocking at the door. We've got to make a mark in the sand at some point."

Gourlay said he still hoped that Chelsea would run "self-sufficiently" and this included cutting costs as well as trying to "grow revenue". Michael Ballack is also in discussions over a new deal while Nicolas Anelka wants to extend his contract.

Chelsea decided to delay all contract talks until the end of the season — and therefore after Saturday's FA Cup final — and Gourlay said the club had to strike the right "balance" between retaining senior players and bringing through younger ones.

"The balance is being able to bring players through from the academy to offset some of the higher costs we've incurred over the years," he said, with manager Carlo Ancelotti already saying he wishes to add five youth-team players to his squad. "We have got to build for the future and the problem we have is these young guys coming through. Carlo is expected to win every game."

Celebration time

John Terry received a single word text message from Jose Mourinho in the hours after Chelsea's Premier League title triumph. It read: "Champagne." "Simple as that," the Chelsea captain said after his team topped the league table by a single point over Manchester United. Mourinho was the last manager to lead Chelsea to the title, in 2006, and Terry spoke of his "embarrassment" that the club had been beaten in the previous three campaigns by United. He insisted that Chelsea needed to improve their squad, however, for next season if they were going to repeat the feat. "I think the ‘Big Four' need to strengthen next year because everyone's become closer to us, you know us, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool especially," he said.