Ten Cate cools Blues talk
05 Oct 2007 - 15:38:19
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- Ten Cate cools Blues talk
Ajax coach Henk Ten Cate has cooled reports suggesting he is on the verge of accepting an offer to take on a coaching role with Chelsea.
A story in The Sun on Friday morning had quoted Ten Cate's agent as saying his client had an agreement with the Blues.
However, Ten Cate told RTV Noord Holland: "Despite the fact that we are now out of the Champions League and UEFA Cup I still feel secure in my position.
"I will be, as normal, on the bench when we meet Sparta (Rotterdam) on Sunday. I don't want to say more about all the speculation about me and Chelsea."
Ten Cate's agent, Sigi Lens, had earlier claimed "It's true, we have an agreement with Chelsea.
"It's an opportunity for him, a challenge for him to work with a big team and work with Avram Grant to build a new team. It's a big opportunity for Henk with big players.
"Chelsea have spoken to Henk about the matter. There was a conversation and both the manager (Grant) and Henk are on the same wavelength.
"They invited Henk to a meeting to talk about technical matters and ask how he sees things and how he wants to play and that was good."
Earlier in the week, Chelsea issued a statement on the subject that read: "Chelsea first-team coach Avram Grant has made it publicly clear several times that he intends to strengthen his backroom team in addition to his assistant coach Steve Clarke.
"One of the scenarios Avram is considering is a team containing a British assistant coach in Steve and a foreign assistant coach, a system the first team are already familiar with."