“Everything Was Agreed” – Ashley Cole Speaks On Infamous Arsenal Exit

By The Editor
on 3rd January 2025

Ashley Cole places the blame on Arsenal…

Former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole has finally spoken openly about his infamous exit from the club when he crossed the divide in the capital and joined Chelsea.

Speaking on The Peter Crouch Podcast, Cole aimed to tell his narrative and believes the saga was pinned on him, giving Arsenal fans the wrong impression.

The former Invincible reveals that while many feel he initiated the exit, he believes that he wasn’t given a choice after Arsenal reneged on a verbal agreement regarding a new deal.

Cole is arguably the greatest Hale End graduate of all time and his exit still stings a certain generation of Arsenal fans – especially considering where he went and how successful that Chelsea side was.

While Arsenal were about to embark upon a tough financial journey, Cole left a team that’d just been beaten in a Champions League final with a squad containing the likes of Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Sol Campbell and Gilberto.

It meant that he was portrayed as a mercenary, joining a team that had shaken up English football with a bottomless pit of cash – courtesy of sugar daddy Roman Abramovich.

“My situation was I knew what I was worth,” Cole said.

“If you don’t want to pay it, no problem. But we did agree to pay it. Everything was agreed and then they pulled the rug [from] under me. They broke their promise – I couldn’t tell you why.”

The legendary left-back still harbours feelings towards the Gunners hierarchy at the time and believes the likes of David Dein deliberately positioned him as a villain.

“I look back and I was bitter. In my head I was going, ‘You put me through some s***’. And they just went like, ‘Ash, you deal with it, and it’s nothing to do with us’. And I’m whatever age I was, 23, and I’m like, ‘You knew what happened’.

“I think [former Arsenal vice-chairman] David Dein came out and mentioned something recently. But it took him like 20 years. For 20 years I got abused. I don’t blame fans [though]. I understand their frustration. They didn’t know the full facts, they didn’t know the truth.”

Everyone is a hero in their own story – you’ve heard that saying before!

Cole ironically left out a crucial flashpoint in his exit from north London and while the timeline of events are unknown to fans, he made his future untenable when he met Chelsea behind the club’s back.

Jose Mourinho, Chelsea and Cole’s agent were all fined for an illegal meeting that was caught on camera while the player was still contracted to Arsenal in 2005.

While we don’t know if Cole took this meeting when talks broke down with Arsenal, his future became untenable when those images were leaked to the public.