Dimitar Berbatov may well be on his way out of Old Trafford even after Sir Alex Ferguson vowed to stick by the striker. Reports on Eurosport claim the Reds are looking to bring in cash and reduce their wage bill which could lead to the Bulgarian being shown the exit door this summer. Just last week Ferguson vowed to keep Berbatov: “He’s a fantastic footballer and he’ll be with us next year.” said the Scot. But after these latest revelations Italian giants Milan and Juventus have stepped up their interest in the 29-year-old who is valued at £20m.

Steve McClaren is ready to join the bidding for Michael Ballack as the chase hots up for the freed Chelsea midfielder.
Wolfsburg, Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen have all expressed interest and Real Madrid are poised in the wings, as revealed by Sportsmail.
But with Jose Mourinho prioritising his transfer targets, and initially trying to prise Steven Gerrard away from Anfield, Ballack, 33, may explore the offers from the Bundesliga clubs first rather than wait.

Battle-weary: Michael Ballack has split fan opinion during his four years at Chelsea
Germany coach Joachim Loew confirmed that Ballack had received ’several interesting approaches’.
The injured Germany skipper, on holiday in Miami, is still idolised at Leverkusen in particular and would be offered the chance to move into management after hanging up his boots while Wolfsburg’s general manager Dieter Hoeness confirmed he would discuss Ballack with McClaren. (Daily Mail)

I have to say I was a little surprised when Chelsea decided to not try harder to keep the German international at the club. Yes he is getting on a bit but he had a pretty decent season last term, maybe one of his best since he arrived at Stamford Bridge. The 33 year old took part in 45 matches last term so was one of Ancelotti’s regulars but yet no real effort was made to keep him.

Maybe Ballack made it clear he wanted to leave but either way one can understand why Steve McClaren is trying to secure the vastly experienced players signature. Wolfsburg are struggling to keep hold of their big names after a poor follow up season to their surprise title winning term.

Having helped FC Twente to the Eredivisie championship the former England boss is hoping he can further prove his managerial abilities at the Bundesliga club. If he can sign the former Bayern Munich man and then build his midfield around the talented veteran then he will go a long way to persuading the likes of Edin Dzeko that staying at the club could well be an intelligent decision.

Manchester United are rumoured to be considering a move for Juventus playmaker Diego this summer. Sir Alex Ferguson is looking at potential additions that will add more creativity to his Old Trafford midfield and may well believe that after experiencing a shocking debut season at Juventus the Brazilian might be tempted by a move to the Premier League side.

The 25 year old had a decent season at the Turin club but was unable to prevent a calamitous season that saw the Old Lady of Italian football go through three managers and finish in seventh spot and flail disastrously in the Champions League where they finished in third spot before falling to Fulham in the Europa League.

After three great Bundesliga seasons with Werder Bremen, where Diego scored at will and was considered one of the best foreign players on display, the former Porto man secured a move to Serie A that he must have hoped would have helped his career progression but instead he has seen his chances at international level limited and may well feel its time to move on again.

Diego is very much the type of player who Ferguson may feel could help connect midfield to attack. The expert set piece taker is the kind performer who has fans on the edge of their seats and if the Man United can manage to gather the requisite funds needed to sign the £22m rated attacking midfielder they would be wise to put an offer in.

This was always likely to happen. Whether its fictitious or whether Rafa really wants to nab some of his former Anfield talent we could be in for a bumpy ride when it comes to keeping players from leaving. We are in a tricky situation right now. The longer we are without a manager the longer this period of uncertainty affects the club.

Javier Mascherano is a player I can see pushing for a move. We had some problems with contracts and pay rises with regards to the Argentine captain so I don’t know what will happen with the former West Ham man. As for Dirk Kuyt I am a little surprised by his statements. The quotes attributed to him are a little too leading for my liking. He appears to be talking up the chance of a move to San Siro and that’s not good. Clearly these quotes could be taken out of context but its hard to read anything from these comments other than a player seeking a potential exit to the Champions League winners.

I kind of expect more from the Dutchman. I know we have had a terrible season but hopefully we can turn the corner. Whomever is named the new boss has a tough job ahead of him. We can either go further downwards or we can try to claw our way back to the level we were the season before last, i.e. when we finished second (how quickly some forget that fact).

Hopefully we won’t lose any of our talented squad members this summer and equally hopefully I hope we get rid of those who are simply not good enough and perhaps even find the cash to bring in new players. I hope.

Chelsea have informed the Premier League that they will not renew Joe Cole’s contract, making him free to leave the club next month. The news comes just 24 hours after the midfielder played his way into Fabio Capello’s plans for England’s opening World Cup group game on Saturday.

The Independent learnt yesterday that contract talks with the player are now over and Roman Abramovich has sanctioned the departure of the player on 1 July. Chelsea have also decided that Michael Ballack, currently injured and out of the World Cup finals, will not have his deal renewed. The Brazilian utility man Juliano Belletti will also leave the club next month.

Chelsea have gone as far as lodging the status of Cole, Ballack and Belletti as free agents with the Football Association and the Premier League. Cole will be the most sought-after of the three with Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City all interested in signing the 28-year-old.

Crucial to the decision was Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti and he has the full backing of Abramovich. Increasingly, the player found himself marginalised in the title run-in under Ancelotti. Both parties also found themselves a long way apart in terms of Cole’s salary level on any potential new contract.

Cole has impressed in England’s warm-up games and has a good chance of starting the team’s opening World Cup match against the US on Saturday. The Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp would appear to be in pole position to sign the player, although Spurs have never before paid upwards of £100,000 a week, the kind of salary that Cole would expect to command. Redknapp, who brought Cole through from the academy as West Ham manager, publicly stated on Monday that he would like to sign the player.

The decision has been made partly for financial reasons, as Chelsea did not want to be held to ransom. Cole wanted a £30,000-a-week pay rise on his existing contract of around £80,000 a week. Earlier in the season, Chelsea made Cole an offer which was rejected, and there has been no further offer made. Both sides have now accepted that Cole will be free to leave Chelsea and the World Cup will provide him with the perfect shop window in which to parade his talents.

Ballack’s last action for Chelsea was when he limped out of the FA Cup final with an ankle injury, a problem that has since ruled him out of the World Cup. The German midfielder, who will be 34 in September, wanted a two-year deal but Chelsea only offered one year, an offer that has since been withdrawn. Ballack became the highest paid player in the world on £130,000 a week when he signed on a free transfer from Bayern Munich in 2006. He played 167 games for Chelsea, scoring 26 goals. He is likely to return to Germany although he also has received offers from clubs in America and the United Arab Emirates. (Independent)

Whilst one can see the motives behind Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to not continue to employ Joe Cole and Michael Ballack it does seem that Chelsea’s passing up of the international pair will benefit any Premier League club, or indeed those abroad, who decide that these are two quality players will a lot to offer.

There has been a mass of interest in 28 year old England man Cole and it seems fairly likely that a move to either Arsenal, Tottenham or Manchester United is on the cards. Injury first put the former West Ham man out of the first team picture and under Ancelotti is seemed he was deemed as a replacement rather than first choice player. His performance at the World Cup could help even more interest develop in his very many talents.

Ballack is a different kettle of fish. At 33 he is clearly about to embark on what might be his final move and a move back to Germany would appear to be the most likely destination unless the battling midfielder decides to chase the money to the MLS or the United Arab Emirates.

Either way Chelsea feel confident enough in their squad to allow both to run out their deals and that says as much about the manner in which Ancelotti has the west London side purring at present although the club will probably take this opportunity to recruit come more strength in depth and perhaps line up moves for young talent to help reverse the trend of a club seemingly packed with players nearing 30 or indeed over 30 years of age.

The midfield pair amassed a total of 330 Blues starts between them and netted 65 goals.

Carlo Ancelotti is planning to fill the hole by bidding £25m for Bayern Munich‘s Bastian Schweinsteiger

Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish is willing to replace Rafael Benitez as the Reds’ manager, but only if the Anfield board considers him to be the best possible replacement for the Spaniard. Dalglish, who resigned as Liverpool manager in 1991 before returning to the club last year in a new ambassador’s role, had been asked to help Christian Purslow, the managing director, to find a successor to Benitez. However, Dalglish has told friends that he would like the job. Roy Hodgson is the early favorite to take over at Anfield, with Liverpool understood to be preparing an approach for the Fulham manager.