The Legendary Chelsea and England left-back joined Chelsea from Arsenal as a free agent in 2006.
Ashley Cole started his career at Arsenal after graduating from the Arsenal academy. The controversial move to Chelsea resulted in a legal dispute between the Gunners and the player along with Chelsea and his agent.
Chelsea was accused by Arsenal of tapping their player amid contract negotiations and Ashley Cole’s agent and Chelsea were fined.
Cole became one of the finest left-backs of his time and enjoyed an illustrious 10-year career at Chelsea. Winning the Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, and the Premier League at the West London.
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After 16 years of Ashley Cole’s controversial move to Chelsea, Ex-Arsenal Chief David Dein has apologized to the former English international following the contact disputes that saw him leave Arsenal for Chelsea.
What did David Dein say?
The former Arsenal chief said on Talksport saying: “We should never have lost him in my opinion.
“His contract came up for re-negotiation and we didn’t offer him the right sort of money. Meanwhile, Chelsea did.
“I got a call one day from a journalist from the News of the World at the time, and he said ‘we’ve got a hot story off the press. Your player Ashley Cole is being tapped up by Chelsea. I think you should come and see us.
“I went down to their offices, and they said ‘here’s a signed statement from a server at a restaurant where Ashley Cole is meeting Chelsea’. He was an Arsenal fan, the server, clearly, and he gave the story to the News of the World and broke it there and then.
“That was the end of that and it really was a great shame because Ashley was homegrown, an Arsenal boy, and I regret that we didn’t do enough at the time to keep him at the club. It was also at a time when we were talking about building the stadium and finances, so tensions were raging about how we were going to finance the stadium and we were watching every penny.
“We didn’t go enough to keep him, and I regret that with hindsight. Ashley, if you’re listening, I’m sorry.”
The Chelsea opened up his controversial Arsenal existence in his book, claiming that he was used as a Scape Goat by the Arsenal board to get back at Chelsea.
Ashley Cole wrote in his book, saying:” Arsenal hung me out to dry, using me as a scapegoat to get back at Chelsea. The board ‘rewarded’ me with an insult and threw years of loyalty back in my face. I’ll reveal the shattering truth about who fed me to the sharks. It changed my view forever on the club I regarded as family.”
