Chelsea Transfer Rumour: Blues Enter Battle for Ajax Defender

Chelsea will face competition from Real Madrid and AS Roma for the signature of Ajax wing-back Gregory van der Wiel, according to the Daily Mail.

Van der Wiel is expected to leave the Amsterdam Arena in the summer and the Blues are known to be long-term admirers of the 24-year-old.

The Dutch international was poised to join Valencia next season but prolonged negotiations have finally broken down. The two clubs had even agreed on a transfer fee for van der Wiel, while the player was also believed to have accepted personal terms on a switch to the Mestalla. But the Spanish club pulled the plug in the final stages of the deal to end their interest in the defender.

"It may be that my transfer to Valencia is off. If no big club comes in for me, I will stay at Ajax," Talksport quoted van der Wiel as saying.

However, the attacking right-back is not short of suitors and Chelsea will have to battle it out with Madrid and Roma for the services of the highly rated defender.

Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo claims that Bayern Munich have a specific weakness that the Blues will attempt to exploit when the two sides meet in the Champions League final at Munich's Allianz Arena on 19 May.

The Italian manager has travelled to Germany to watch Bayern face Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final on Saturday.

"I'm going to watch them on Saturday night in the German Cup final. I'll analyse their pattern of play. I've seen the two semi-finals and the group stages as well," the Mirror quoted Di Matteo as saying.

"The strengths, which you'll know, are with [Mario] Gomez, [Frank] Ribery and [Arjen] Robben, and probably [Thomas] Muller. They have a very technical team with lots of pace. Very dangerous. But they also have weaknesses, like every team. I'm not going to say that. I know their weaknesses, but we'll work on that," he added.

Chelsea will be without their suspended captain John Terry, along with Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles for the final, while Bayern will miss the services of Holger Badstuber, David Alaba and Luis Gustavo.