Carvalho could stay at Chelsea as Alex suffers injury blow

Chelsea were hit by another pre-season injury blow last night with Brazilian defender Alex ruled out for the start of the new campaign.

The centre-half picked up a thigh injury in training this week and will join Petr Cech on the missing list when the new term kicks off against West Brom next month.

It is another major problem for coach Carlo Ancelotti and may see the Blues block former manager Jose Mourinho's attempt to lure Ricardo Carvalho to Real Madrid.

But more importantly it gives the Chelsea manager a headache he could have done without with less than a month to go before the big kick-off.

Ancelotti was already resigned to the loss of calf victim Cech, while Jose Bosingwa, out since October with a series of knee problems, will also not return to action for the opening of the new term.

Alex has suffered an inuury-plagued time since finally arriving at Chelsea from PSV Eindhoven - where he had been "parked" by the Blues for three years - in 2007.

The 28-year-old missed the first two months of last season with a groin problem having also suffered from injury in the previous campaign although he played the last 14 games of the season including the FA Cup Final win over Portsmouth, establishing himself as the first-choicer partner to skipper John Terry.

Now, though, he will miss the rest of the club's pre-season programme, starting with tonight's clash with Ajax in Amsterdam and Ancelotti admitted: "Alex has a problem in his thigh."

Summer signing Yossi Benayoun will also miss tonight's game with a groin injury and Ancelotti hinted that Ross Turnbull could be the preferred choice to stand in for Cech at the start of the season as he added: "I think that against Ajax we will play 45 minutes each for Turnbull and Hilario, and I think Turnbull will start the game.

"It is a pre-season match so we don't have too many targets, just to improve our condition and put the players in better condition for the start of the season."