Ballack: I will stay another year

Michael Ballack has urged the Chelsea board to give Carlo Ancelotti time to settle in after agreeing in principle to stay at Stamford Bridge for another year.

The Germany captain has not yet signed his one-year extension option but insists he will be a Chelsea player next season.

“I have not signed it,” said Ballack, “But everything is OK. I will be here for another year.”

Ballack was a second-half substitute as Chelsea lifted the FA Cup on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Everton.

It was the perfect send-off for interim coach Guus Hiddink who had taken over from sacked Luiz Felipe Scolari in February. Hiddink has now returned to his main role as Russia’s national coach, however.

Chelsea have now had five managers during owner Roman Abramovich’s reign and AC Milan’s Ancelotti looks like being the sixth.

The Blues are expected to make an official announcement early this week with the new manager being unveiled to the media in the first week of July when the players return for pre-season training.

The managerial upheavals have not helped Chelsea to consolidate on the progress they made under Jose Mourinho with Avram Grant, Scolari and Hiddink all taking short stints in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat.

Now Ballack is calling for some managerial stability as he looks forward to continuing his Chelsea career.

“It is not done but it looks like he (Ancelotti) will be the coach next year,” said Ballack. “I don’t know him very well. But he has had great success with AC Milan.

“I think that’s what we need at Chelsea, we need consistency. You always need time to adapt to a new manager.

“But in football you if you don’t get a result, you are under pressure. The coach is the first person who is under pressure but when a new manager comes you should give him time.

“There is not much that we need to change to win the Premier League next season. We have a great team, which is the most important thing, but we have to change the manager again and we will need a bit of time to adapt.

“It is not always like under it was under Guus where somebody comes in and the team starts winning straight away – that is not normal.

“Every coach works with different methods and the players have to get to know him – hopefully we won’t need too much time because if we do we will be a little bit behind.”

Ballack does not believe Ancelotti will be affected by the prospect of following Hiddink – who said an emotional farewell to the players after the Wembley final.

“He (Ancelotti) has great experience and I think he can deal with the situation,” added Ballack.