Ashley Cole has flown out to Japan to join up with Chelsea for their pre-season tour, however it's not to be part of Frank Lampard's coaching staff.
Instead, football.london understands that the former Blues left-back is actually flying out to the Far East to be part of the club's promotions around their match in Yokohama.
There has been a lot of speculation around Cole and whether or not he will join up with Lampard this season and be one of the coaches as part of the new backroom staff.
Lampard has already got former Blues midfielder Jody Morris as his assistant head coach, plus Joe Edwards, Eddie Newton and Chris Jones as his main coaches, while Henrique Hilario was promoted to goalkeeping coach.
However, Cole is not set to join the backroom staff but instead will be representing the club and their partners on tour, doing commerical and ambassadorial work.
The Blues take on Kawasaki Frontale on Friday in Yokahama, before they travel to Saitama to face Barcelona on Tuesday.
Cole has previously done ambassadorial work for Chelsea, having been part of the Chelsea Foundation's trip to New York in November 2017.
Cole and Lampard played with each other for several years at Stamford Bridge, before the left-back made the switch to Roma and then moved out to play for the LA Galaxy.
However, the 38-year-old was reunited with Lampard at Derby County, with the now Blues head coach signing him on a short-term deal with the Rams.
Cole started the Championship play-off final defeat to Aston Villa, but hinted at retiring this summer, telling RamsTV: "I have to look at the bigger picture.
"I know how my body feels, I know what I can bring or what I can't bring anymore."
With Petr Cech having returned to west London as the new technical and performance advisor and Joe Cole also doing some coaching with the academy, Cole had been a natural link.
However, for now the former Blues left-back is not going to be part of Lampard's team.
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