Arsenal are expected to name Ashley Cole in the squad they submit to Uefa today for their Champions League qualifier. It seems inconceivable the full back will play in the tie next Tuesday even if he is still at the club but it would send a message to Chelsea that they do not intend to sell the 25-year-old unless their asking price is met.
Cole attended training yesterday but has made it clear he wants to leave and his hopes of a transfer to Stamford Bridge would not be damaged by inclusion in the European squad, which has to be with Uefa by midnight. A second deadline of September 1st exists for the group stage of the Champions League and Cole would be cup-tied at another club only if he plays in a qualifier, not if he is in the squad or an unused substitute.
Arsenal's standard practice is to name all their professionals in their European squads and they would gain nothing by leaving Cole off this list, even if they had no intention of playing him. With Arsene Wenger having declared Thierry Henry too short of match practice to feature in the first leg, Cole can be counted out for a similar reason. It would make no sense for the manager to include the left back for the return because it would impact on the money Arsenal can demand for Cole if he is cup-tied.
Negotiations between Arsenal and Chelsea are ongoing, with the asking price £30 million. Wenger has emphasised the club, and not the player, will dictate whether a transfer happens - even if it has become impossible to see the player remaining at Arsenal beyond the transfer window.
Meanwhile, the mind games behind Jose Mourinho's assertion that Liverpool pose less of a threat to Chelsea's Premiership title than either Arsenal or Manchester United may have backfired, with Peter Crouch suggesting last night the comments merely indicated Mourinho's real concerns for the season ahead.
Mourinho had suggested that, though Liverpool were "tactically very good and are potentially fighting for first place", what he implied to be Rafael Benitez' favoured defensive style of play would hamper their challenge.
"We haven't said a single thing about Chelsea and have been concentrating solely on ourselves," said Crouch. "If Mourinho is talking about us again we're obviously on his mind. We're confident when the season starts we'll show what we're about."
Benitez preferred to stress that Liverpool remain in the market for a forward to help maintain a title challenge. "We still need an extra striker, just in case, and I'm confident we'll sign one," he said, with interest in Feyenoord's Dirk Kuyt continuing.
