New deal for Chelsea´s Ballack

Chelsea’s German midfielder Michael Ballack, only a substitute for Saturday’s FA Cup final win over Everton, has agreed a one-year contract extension, the BBC reported on Sunday.

“I haven’t signed yet but I have agreed for another year,” Ballack, 32, said, adding he expected AC Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti to succeed Guus Hiddink as coach next season at Stamford Bridge.

“I haven’t worked under him and I don’t know him very well but you can see from the work he has done at Milan that he is a successful manager,” Ballack told BBC Sport.

“It’s not done yet but it looks like he will be coach.”

Ancelotti is set to reveal if he is to take charge after the Serie A season ends Sunday evening as interim manager Hiddink, who replaced the sacked Luiz Felipe in February, returns to his job as Russia coach following four months in London.

Ballack, signed by Jose Mourinho in 2006, has seen Chelsea win two FA Cups since but insisted that next season he wants to target bigger prizes with Manchester United having dominated the English Premiership since his arrival in England.

“What we need at Chelsea is consistency,” he insisted. “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.

“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,” said Ballack, who indicated he did not think a new coach would need to go on a spending spree.

“I don’t think we need to buy anybody because we already have a lot of good players on the bench.

“That is for the club to decide but, if you look at the performances over the last couple of years in reaching finals, we have a really good squad and are heading in the right direction.”