Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has told Spanish giants Real Madrid that the club have no intention of selling Ashley Cole.
The England left-back has been linked with a move to Real since former Chelsea boss José Mourinho took charge at the Bernabéu earlier in the close-season.
Reports have claimed that Cole would seriously consider a move abroad to avoid any more media intrusion into his private life following his high-profile separation from pop star wife Cheryl.
However, Buck is adamant a transfer would not help the 29-year-old and expects Cole to still be at Stamford Bridge this season.
"Ashley Cole is not for sale," Buck told The Guardian. "That's the bottom line on that. There's no doubt that he's going to be a Chelsea player this season.
"Ashley is a superb player. He is a delight to deal with around the football club, he gets on very well with everyone, he trains very well and he is really a model athlete.
"Obviously, he is not happy with how his private life has become the focus of everything around him and I think we'd like to work with him so that he has a bit of a lower profile.
"We don't think the problem will change if he went to somewhere else outside of the UK, so I think we want to work with him here to make his personal life more enjoyable."
He added: "We say to all our players that might have personal issues that we want to help them as much as we can and even Carlo (Ancelotti) has said that on several occasions.
"There is a limit to what we can do but obviously we want to support our players and we want them to be happy not only on the pitch but also in their private lives. If you are not happy in your private life, it's hard to focus on your professional life."
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The England left-back has been linked with a move to Real since former Chelsea boss José Mourinho took charge at the Bernabéu earlier in the close-season.
Reports have claimed that Cole would seriously consider a move abroad to avoid any more media intrusion into his private life following his high-profile separation from pop star wife Cheryl.
However, Buck is adamant a transfer would not help the 29-year-old and expects Cole to still be at Stamford Bridge this season.
"Ashley Cole is not for sale," Buck told The Guardian. "That's the bottom line on that. There's no doubt that he's going to be a Chelsea player this season.
"Ashley is a superb player. He is a delight to deal with around the football club, he gets on very well with everyone, he trains very well and he is really a model athlete.
"Obviously, he is not happy with how his private life has become the focus of everything around him and I think we'd like to work with him so that he has a bit of a lower profile.
"We don't think the problem will change if he went to somewhere else outside of the UK, so I think we want to work with him here to make his personal life more enjoyable."
He added: "We say to all our players that might have personal issues that we want to help them as much as we can and even Carlo (Ancelotti) has said that on several occasions.
"There is a limit to what we can do but obviously we want to support our players and we want them to be happy not only on the pitch but also in their private lives. If you are not happy in your private life, it's hard to focus on your professional life."
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