Ashley Cole reckons Chelsea’s big-money summer signings Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech will bring an extra dimension to Frank Lampard’s side.
The Blues reportedly spent over £75million on the attacking pair, who have shone on the Champions League stage in the past couple of years.
Cole, who coaches in the Chelsea Academy, was asked if he was worried about the end of their transfer ban damaging homegrown talent.
But far from criticising the club for going back to their old ways, he expects the newcomers to use their experience to help players develop.
Cole told ESPN: “Although the new players are young, they’ve got experience of playing Champions League. They were stars of their team.”
Cole wants Werner, Leipzig’s top Champions League goalscorer, and Ziyech, a big part of Ajax’s European resurgence, to bring leadership qualities to the side – something that he believes the Blues benefited from during playing his career.
He continued: “They can give that leadership off the pitch and on it as well because we had a lot of leaders when I was a player here.
“They led by example not just by talking, but with their feet, which I feel is more important.”
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“People can talk. It is easy to talk. But when you are backing it up with quality performances, that’s what makes the difference.”
Once regarded as the best left-back in the world, Cole insists he is currently happy with his low-key role in the Chelsea backroom set-up.
While his former club-mate Lampard and England colleague Steven Gerrard are already in management, Cole claims he is no rush.
“For sure, I want to go into management but I’m not just going to dive in,” he said.
“Like as a player, I went through stages of learning and I feel I have to do that as a coach. But again, that’s just me.”
