John Mikel Obi former Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole has joined Chelsea’s coaching staff, where he will be working with the U15s.
Cole who won several honours alongside Mikel for Chelsea announced his retirement from professional football in September.
The former England left back has completed his coaching badge , before returning to take charge of Chelsea’s youth academy U15s .
Cole said: “You have to be a top player to play for Chelsea so they want those top ex-players influencing and trying to help the next generation develop and be better players.
“Chelsea have been quick and probably one of the first clubs to really tap into that, not just with coaches but staff in the loans team and other departments, to bring them back to pass on their experience and expertise.”
Cole added: “Everyone has their own philosophy but you also have to take ideas that you like from different coaches. The first thing I learned on my coaching badges was that every coach is a thief.
“I want to take parts of Jose Mourinho in terms of how organised he was, Carlo Ancelotti for his man-management and how he would give players faith to go out and express themselves within his system and Arsene Wenger, who was definitely a great man-manager and put a lot of trust in young players.
“I want to be the best. I’ve been around a lot of great players and managers so it’s about understanding what it takes. I understood as a player what it took to be the best and now it’s about trying to transfer that into how I can be the best as a coach.”
Cole is the second Mikel’s former Chelsea teammate to have return to the club as a coach.
Frank Lampard was appointed as the team’s new first team manager back in June 2019, after just a year into management.
Mikel, Lampard and Cole won the Premier league, English FA Cup, UEFA Champions league and Europa league respectively during their time at Chelsea.
Mikel is currently playing for Turkish side Trabzonspor and has represented Chinese side Tianjin Teda and Middlesbrough since leaving the London Club.
