Michael Ballack has agreed a one-year contract extension to remain at Chelsea and says he expects Carlo Ancelotti, the AC Milan coach, to arrive at Stamford Bridge.

"I haven't signed yet but I have agreed for another year," Ballack, 32, said.

Ancelotti is the favourite to succeed Guus Hiddink, who stepped down after his side's Wembley victory over Everton yesterday.

"I haven't worked under him and I don't know him very well but you can see from the work he has done at Milan that he is a successful manager," Ballack added/ "It's not done yet but it looks like he will be coach."

Ancelotti is set to reveal if he is to take charge after the Serie A season ends Sunday evening as Hiddink, who replaced the sacked Luiz Felipe in February, returns to his job as Russia coach following four months in London.

Ballack, signed by Jose Mourinho in 2006, has seen Chelsea win two FA Cups since but insisted that next season he wants to target bigger prizes with Manchester United having dominated the English Premiership since his arrival in England.

"What we need at Chelsea is consistency," he said. "There is not much that we need to change to win the Premier League next season. We have a great team, which is the most important thing, but we have to change the manager again and we will need a bit of time to adapt.

"Every coach works with different methods and the players have to get to know him - hopefully we won't need too much time because if we do we will be a little bit behind," said Ballack, who indicated he did not think a new coach would need to go on a spending spree.

"I don't think we need to buy anybody because we already have a lot of good players on the bench.

"That is for the club to decide but, if you look at the performances over the last couple of years in reaching finals, we have a really good squad and are heading in the right direction."