Chelsea winger Jesper Gronkjaer is in talks with the London club over a new contract.

The Dane told BT: “Chelsea and I have started discussions about my future.

“It is, of course, a matter of whether I shall extend my contract which expires in 15 months or whether I shall look for a new club and possibly in a new country.

“I will ask myself, if I desire something new in my career, but I don’t want to go behind the back of Chelsea and talk about it.

“The question of playing time is certainly among the things I must consider, but there are many other things.

“Generally, I am pleased with my position and playing time this season, where we have become more competitive for places.”

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard admits that Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira is the role model for his new maturity, according to the Evening Standard.

He said: “With experience I’ve learned to control my aggression and channel it in the right way. It was time to be a little bit more sensible with certain challenges and not go in for ones that I had no chance of winning.

“Patrick is a great role model for me and I watch him very closely on TV. He is such a great player and one day, hopefully, I will get to his level.

“Vieira and Roy Keane at Manchester United are two great and successful captains in the English game and one day I would like to be thought of as the same as them.”

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and chief executive Peter Kenyon have apologized to Claudio Ranieri after it emerged that Sven Goran Eriksson was again in talks with Chelsea last week.

A Chelsea insider told The Sun: “Kenyon and Abramovich realised the Eriksson situation had seriously destabilised the team.”

The pair’s biggest fear was that Ranieri would walk out on the team.

Chelsea are reported to have made fresh moves to sign Roma star Francesco Totti to England. However, they may face competition from Internazionale, Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid for his signature.

Chelsea, backed with Roman Abramovitch’ money, are monitoring Totti’s future at the Stadio Olimpico with Roma still having financial difficulties and they are ready to test their resolve to hang onto the striker with a big-money bid.

Roma are unlikely to be willing to sell Totti unless the finacial situation requires it, as he is a major icon at the club and any possible departure would cause great consternation in the Italian capital, skysports.com report.

Should Roma decide to make Totti available for transfer, Chelsea would face a fight for his signature with Internazionale, Real Madrid, Juventus and Milan all certain to declare their interest in the player.