Much of the transfer speculation in the next few weeks looks set to focus on the whereabouts of Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, and Fernando Torres.

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All have been linked with big moves – Cole and Gerrard to Real Madrid, Torres to Chelsea – and yet the odds suggest that all three will be staying put for at least the first phase of the new campaign.

Certainly, in the case of Ashley Cole, the weekend’s news appears to suggest a U-turn in his attempts to flee the Premier League after a year of unflattering new stories, and his public split from his wife.

The suggestion seems to be that Chelsea want too much for their gifted left back, and Real could yet shift their focus onto the marginally less costly Patrice Evra.

That said, the whisper is that Cole is still Mourinho’s top choice for that particular berth, making his odds of 3/1 with Ladbrokes NOT to start the season as a Chelsea player rather intriguing.

He has odds of 1/5 with Bet365 to stay put.

As for the two Liverpool men, weekend stories state that they have two weeks to decide their futures, with Hodgson due to “hold talks” with them before the month is out.

Torres, who is reportedly an important Chelsea target, is favoured to stay on at Anfield, with odds of 2/5.

But should Chelsea move ever closer to Liverpool’s £70million valuation, his current odds of 7/4 with Paddy Power to start the season elsewhere could make for a pretty decent flutter.

In Gerrard’s case, he’s valued at 1/2 with VCBet to stay at his beloved home club, and 6/4 with Stan James to head off elsewhere.

Of course, he almost joined the Mourinho revolution just a few years ago at Chelsea, before changing his mind at the eleventh hour.

This time, the lure of Jose and Real Madrid could prove too hard to resist.

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