Ten Cate poised to join Chelsea coaching team

CHELSEA are refusing to confirm that Henk ten Cate will arrive at Stamford Bridge to join Avram Grant’s coaching team.

Ajax gave their coach permission to talk to Chelsea on Sunday and it appears that ten Cate has only to agree personal terms with the Premier League club to ensure he teams up with Grant and assistant Steve Clarke.

But Chelsea have yet to make any official comment over his proposed move, although Ajax do not expect negotiations to drag on.

Grant is still looking for a fitness coach, a goalkeeping coach and a scout, but Clarke and ten Cate would be the two men responsible for first-team affairs under him.

The 52-year-old Israeli has always worked with two assistants and confirmed last Friday that he was hoping for a European coach to work with Clarke — citing ten Cate as one of the men he had identified as a possible addition to his backroom staff.

It has been widely reported that ten Cate will agree a three-year contract with Chelsea.

But Ajax fans are not sorry that he appears to be quitting the club for Chelsea.

Although the Amsterdam side lie second in the Dutch league they have crashed out of two European competitions.

They lost to Slavia Prague in Champions League qualifying before going down to Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Cup first round.

And during Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Sparta Rotterdam, fans aimed abuse at Ten Cate, club chairman John Jaakke and defender Jurgen Colin.

Regular chants of “Henkie, get lost and take Jaakke and Colin with you” rang around the away end as Ajax struggled to gain a point.

Ten Cate, who previously worked under compatriot Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, responded by defending his time in charge, which has yielded two trophies — last season’s Dutch Cup and the Dutch Super Cup.

He said: “What must I say about that? Under my leadership we have played 41 games, gained 92 points and scored over a hundred goals.”

But he would not be drawn on his future, adding: “I can’t say if I was sitting on the Ajax bench for the last time. That’s not up to me. It’s now something between Ajax and Chelsea.

“I don’t know more than that the clubs are speaking. And if they don’t come to an agreement I will gladly be coach of Ajax until the end of the season. And if they reach a deal I will go to Chelsea.”

However, numerous members of the Chelsea first-team squad are now away on international duty with captain John Terry among them.

After leading Chelsea to their first Premier League victory under Grant at Bolton on Sunday, Terry hailed the Israeli as the ‘right man for the job’ following Jose Mourinho’s shock departure from the club last month.

Terry, who continues to play with a face mask to protect his fractured cheekbone, declared: “Avram’s come in and with the likes of Steve Clarke and Brendan Rodgers about it’s been fantastic. It’s great to have familiar faces.