Veron poised to follow as Cole joins Chelsea

Chelsea were involved in talks with both players over personal terms yesterday after agreeing fees of £15m and £6.6m respectively with Manchester United and West Ham.

And Cole became the first of the pair to put pen to paper having agreed terms and passed a medical, with Chelsea confident of completing the Veron deal today in time for them both to be eligible for next week's Champions League final qualifying round.

Cole revealed his desire to follow in the footsteps of his boyhood Chelsea heroes at Stamford Bridge, picking out the likes of Dennis Wise and Kerry Dixon as his personal favourites.

He said: ''I used to come to Chelsea to watch, I used to sit in The Shed a lot.

''I used to love watching good players, Dennis Wise and before that Kerry Dixon. I just love my football.''

Chelsea agreed a fee of £12.5m for Veron, with a further £2.5m dependent upon the Blues' success over the length of his proposed four-year contract.

United, who announced the agreement to the Stock Exchange just before 7am, were therefore prepared to let the Argentina international leave for around half of the £28.1m for which they signed him from Lazio just two years ago.

However, Claudio Ranieri is clearly determined to install Veron as the central playmaker of his new-look side, with Cole as his creative deputy.

Then again, the Chelsea boss has also told his team he is planning to vary his tactics this season away from last season's more settled 4-4-2 line-up, possibly to allow Veron to float behind a front two.

Chelsea chief executive Trevor Birch said of the Argentina international, whom the Blues have tracked for the past fortnight: ''Manchester United have accepted our bid. Providing he wishes to speak to us, we can proceed with negotiating personal terms and putting him through a medical.''

Veron left United's squad yesterday ahead of their friendly in Portugal and headed to London after his agent revealed that the midfielder was prepared to sign a four-year contract.

Fernando Hidalgo said: ''He is happy. It has been a club decision, and he has accepted it.

''He is ready to do the best he can with this new opportunity at Chelsea.

"Seba is proud to join Chelsea - but it was not his intention to leave United.''

Sir Alex Ferguson had initially insisted that he wanted to keep hold of Veron, but Hidalgo added: ''When decisions are made, everyone has to follow the consequences.''

If Chelsea do persuade Veron to follow Cole's lead, that will take their summer spending close to the £60m mark, having earlier signed Damien Duff, Geremi, Glen Johnson and Wayne Bridge.

Manchester United, meanwhile, have now lost their two most creative midfield forces after the sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid for £25m.

''It was a footballing decision. We got an offer and the price eventually was acceptable,'' said chief executive Peter Kenyon.

''It is all part and parcel of restructuring the team and ultimately balancing what we think we need for next season.

''In light of other players we have got, we felt we should take the offer from Chelsea and do other things with the team.

''We've got Kleberson coming, subject to a work permit, who'll fill in that role.''

West Ham, meanwhile, insisted they had been left no option other than to sell Cole because the player had made it clear he was unlikely to extend his contract, which had a year left to run.

Chelsea's spending may not have stopped there, however, with one further high-profile arrival possible before the transfer window shuts at the end of this month.

The Blues have reportedly been tracking central midfielders Emerson and Edgar Davids, as well as strikers Christian Vieri and Samuel Eto'o.

However, all of their arrivals so far have had Premiership experience, with even Geremi having spent last season on loan at Middlesbrough.