Ashley Cole on the real reason he wanted to leave Arsenal for Chelsea | MOTD 

One of the best left backs in history, and the best for England

Hated him for leaving arsenal but have to admit he made the right choice, he was also amazing at both clubs.

I was upset when Ashley Cole left Arsenal, but made the right career choice when look back on his football career because he won trophies for both Arsenal and Chelsea.

He came to Chelsea to win ol big ears, and that he done and slotted his pen away, Chelsea legend!

Ashley Cole is one of the greatest left back in the world, NO CAP ❤🙏

Best left-back I’ve ever seen play for Arsenal in my lifetime. I was gutted when he left but we can’t blame him. The manner of the way he left could of been better but he went on to achieve great things in his career. Best left-back in premier league history. One of the greatest in world football. Would of loved it if he stayed at Arsenal but life goes on.

Hands down one of the best fullbacks in history.

Arsenal and Ashley have moved on. It’s all in the past. It’s time we celebrate his career. Proper defender.

Ashley Cole l, Chelsea & England Legend ! The Greatest Left Back England Has Ever Produced. Thank You For Your Service.

He was in Chelsea's amazing win of the league and Arsenals Invincibles. Arguably one of the best LB ever 🙌

I’m sorry but he’s already admitted that he thought an offer from 27k to 55k was insulting, so he left for Chelsea and got 90k. As an arsenal fan I don’t begrudge players leaving for money (got to look after yourself)... but admit it for what it was. Money. All that stuff about winning culture is easy to say retrospective. At that point we had barely stopped winning things.

Arsenal fans hating on him joining Chelsea and helping them winning trophies, but had no problem Sol joining us from Tottenham and helping us win trophies

As an Arsenal fan I still have a soft spot for Ashley Cole because of how good he was and he never really fed into the drama of the situation when he moved from Arsenal to Chelsea he just got on with it and played the game.

Arsenal and Chelsea legend, Best left back in the premier league, 7 FA cups, a champions league and handful of prem league titles. What a career!

When I heard this conversation I almost swerved off the road

As an arsenal fan, i think he's absolutely right about the training density and the type of players. When ljunberg, pires, Vieira, the defenders, and Henry left, there was no one anymore with not only that physical strength but also the intensity on training. Look only at arsenal training. It seems like they are walking everytime. Even their hard training are very low in intensity. When I compare that to Atletico Madrid, Bayern or even Man City, these are 3 times more intense in their training. In the profile of players that followed the 1998-2006 era there are very few ready to the physical battles and intensity, even only the mentality for. I would say maybe flamini, kolo Toure, Fabregas,... There are in no way comparable to Ashley Cole, Vieira, Keown, Lauren, Ljunberg, Sol Campbell... Those players could hold on 120 minutes against any team with full intensity. Pretty much like liverpool et Atletico are today. Or the Bayern of Jupp Heynckes. Arsenal were great technically and did a great season in 2007-2008, and had some great runs in others season. But they couldn't match the athleticism, physicality, and intensity of others teams. Like Chelsea, etc. And so they could not win some games in an ugly manner. A 1-0 away without playing well. While chelsea and man u could..

People citing his career at Chelsea as point proved are missing the point. Some players look around, see no leaders and decide to be one. Some move and want to stay in the shadows and coast. If he stayed, became a rock at the back and led that team, we weren't that far off Chelsea and did it on a tenth of the budget too.

Any player that leaves Arsenal he made the right career choice!

Best English LB Ever. Regardless of clubs and what he achieved, his defending/footballing ability was consistently top level!

He learned the art of seeing holes from Kevin Lee.

I've been watching football since 1976, following the English, Spanish, German and Italian leagues. Ashley Cole and Marcelo are probably the greatest left backs I've ever seen play. I'd say that over their whole careers, Marcelo was probably a bit better offensively but Ashley was better defensively. Overall I think Ashley slightly edges it because I'd say his defensive game was on the same world class level as his offensive game. Ashley Cole is probably also the best technical player of that England generation.

He made the right choice tbh

"I almost crashed my car [in disgust]", Ashley Cole said, after being offered £55,000 a week instead of the £60,000 a week he wanted. LMAO!

Greatest premier league left back. Coming from a Arsenal fan ❤️❤️ 💯

Arsenal fan. Ashley Cole that guy, best left back behind Carlos 👍

best left back the prem has ever seen.

As an Arsenal fan I don’t blame him. After our club legends left Arsenal has never been the same 👍🏾

You can’t ignore what Ashley Cole achieved at Arsenal.

Loved Ashley Cole although I’m a United fan. Ashley Cole was one of the best left backs ever for me!. Don’t get me wrong yes roberto Carlos was an absolute legend, runner up in 1998 and Champion in 2002. But Ashley Cole had something so special in him as a player. Carlos was a baller but when it came to defending Ashley Cole was the goat. He was a masterclsss at defending.

A true chelsea legend that in my eyes doesn’t get enough praise the best left back in the world

As an Arsenal fan I don't blame him for leaving but the way he left was dirty and I blame him for that. Great player

What a player he was. World class.

Ashley Cole in 2017 - "I laugh to myself about Arsenal's struggles since I left".

On reflection, Kenny Sansom may well have been as good as Ashley. Very difficult comparison to make though, going off memories of a different era. But Sansom was the best of his generation by miles, just like Cole.

What a fantastic reimagining of how things went down. Left because the club went back on their word, that’s it.

Damn he went smart, saw the red flag, and left for a better paycheck and a team that wants to win. The real winner is here folks.

As an arsenal fan, he is telling the truth. Our core was breaking apart and it was the best for his career to leave arsenal

You need to pick the right choice for yourself irrespective of what people would say. He succeeded at Chelsea FC.

Loved him for moving to Chelsea. Won us so many trophies. One of the best LBs to ever do it. Legend 💙💙

I am over it. Wasn't happy when he made that move, but he's still an invincible, so he's cemented his place in Arsenal's history.

Winning everything with Chelsea couldn't get any better. Any player that leaves Arsenal he made the right career choice!

I still don’t get it. Arsenal were the defending champions when he illegally met with Mourinho in February 2005. Did he really see that Arsenal were going to crumble as far back as that? Obviously made the right choice, as much as it pains me to say. Glad to see fans starting to see that - same with Robin Van Persie.

Same with all the players who left Arsenal. Never replaced Vieira and then it was Cole, Campbell, Lauren and Pires and after that, Lehmann, Henry, Gilberto and Ljungberg and then the invincibles were no more. The mistake Arsenal made was not replacing those players with like for like quality. Only Fabregas and Van Persie had the world class quality.

He did deserve a pay rise to be fair, it’s a shame how things turned out to be with arsenal but he did make good career choice tbh, half of the players that played for arsenal done the same as him later on anyway, fabregas, nasri, rvp etc

I thought he was going to say maybe he could give them to Alan Shearer 🤦🏿‍♂️

Bbc sport is allergic to uploading a video thats over 5 minutes long. Someone tell them youtube removed the time cap over 10 years ago

Man is apart of an invincible team and also apart of the only team in london to win a UCL. My god man that's crazy

At one point he was the best LB in the world at the time full backs excelled in 1 department either attacking or defending this man had both

Ashley has a great career and will always be a legend

I hope Arteta is watching these and have a sit down with some of these players and let them help him with how to reshape the club again...this kind of honesty could be uselful if he wants to close these gaps that were never filled

Our Chelsea hero 💙💙🤍😍 we miss you legend. Proper guy and what a fabulous footballer he was. If Cristiano Ronaldo says that he’s the toughest player I faced then that pretty much sums up Ashley’s career. Won trophies in arsenal and became a legend in west London 💙💙💙💙💙💙

I'm an Arsenal fan but I have to say he's right, looking back at it now. The core of Arsenal were falling apart in the mid-2000's so it was only a matter of time.

Ashley Cole, great player at Arsenal. Absolute legend at Chelsea. Right up there with the best left backs of all time for sure.

I remember when Cashley Cole went to Chelsea for 5k more a week,Arsenal offered him 55k sounds crazy but I dont blame him he had a lot of success with Chelsea.

No doubt he won trophies at Chelsea but his claim about leaving just to win trophies is a total nonsense though.

Anyone who thinks he left for trophies over money is either deluded or haven't studied the facts of what happened during this transfer saga.....

He wanted the same wage as Thierry Henry and cried like a baby when they refused it.......great player but he’s no Thierry! Still greatest Left Back in English football history though. You cannot take that away from him.

You could say he was one of the first to make a move in a very public way. It was done for all to see.. he wanted more money and told it how it was.. For me the way he could have been a bit more respectful with the things he said.. he was offered a sum of money by Arsenal but though they were taking the mikey out of him.. we all got to hear the figures quoted and I think a lot of people working normal jobs were offended. The thing is now in football what he did is par for the course and people are no longer surprised.

Best decision the lad ever made for his career. Arsenal still buying mediocre players till this day

My Mum didn't want Ashley to sign for us at Chelsea - not at all. But over the seasons she grew to absolutely love him and is glad he (along with other club legends) is back at the club. I can't think of better left back that this country's produced. KTBFFH!

FA Cup legend. 7 wins in 8 finals.

Ashley Cole has really changed into a lovely guy

Best LB for both clubs and England. He’s. Gooner and a blue. Hurt so much when he left but he was t looked after.

The guy has given 99 excuses...I believe the one where he said he left for the money...

The same thing he said when his wife caught him cheating... he saw the holes

Love you Ashley

He was right, the beginning of the end for Arsenal. They never did replace any of their great players. Hell it's 2020 and Arsenal still haven't replaced Patrick. Think about that.

Cashley Cole

He is absolutely right. I never understood people calling him cashley Cole. So many people left arsenal coz they sold their best players. How do you completely firesale the whole undefeatables team. That's why arsenal will never be challenging ever again.

Ashley Cole did not meet Chelsea officials, he went to see an agent regarding a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid. Mourinho and a chelsea official happened to be at the venue by coincidence. Regarding his contract, arsenal dealt with it poorly. They initially agreed on 60k but they lowered it to 55k. He felt disrespected by the way Arsenal handled his contract and the allegations saying he met Chelsea officials behind Arsenals back when this indeed wasn’t true. Arsenal and arsenal fans got it wrong. Even till this day we complain about the lack of ambition and the disappearance our winning culture something that caused Ashley Cole to leave the club.

What a player

Forever our greatest LB 💙💙💙💙

Arsenal's team was falling apart they were struggling to replace the team they loved Cole saw that but you can't deny he still was a fantastic player. I met him once he was nice obviously couldn't speak to him for long as he was driving away.

He done a Raheem Sterling when Raheem was still playing with Lego’s

Can parallels be drawn between his treatment and what Sterling got until he called the press out for being racist? World class footballer, Englands best footballer in that generation

people say it was all about money and i totally agree! The club were unwilling to spend money to keep their best players and to invest in top class players. That's why they all left after Viera. As an Arsenal fan i have always backed Ashley Cole because if the club had the ambition to keep him they would have kept him and the subsequent sale year on year of all our best players proves this plain and simple!

Doesn’t even hurt as much because he left for Chelsea, it’s because he was so fucking good, every single game

One of the best defenders of all time!

Was a great Arsenal player. Certainly deserved a pay rise. The wage structure at the club was prehistoric and the club "paid the price" with mediocre left backs for years. No english Arsenal player in his prime should ever go to a London rival that's a Tottenham trait...because Arsenal has got a Sol ! 🥇🏆🏆

Looking back now i don’t blame him. As a football star you want to shoot for the stars and what’s best for yourself. To be fair Arsenal was declining and Chelsea was on the rise. However the fans have been your loyal supporters and it broke their hearts. So handling it a bit more delicate and not so ruthless 🤷🏽‍♂️

Part of 2 of the greatest teams in premier league history.

I think Ashley Cole is one the most misunderstood arsenal legends of all time, he was world class for us, left because he felt like he was getting taken for granted and there are alot worser cases that don't get half the flack as he did I hope one day he is welcome back to the Emirates and the fans applaud him onto the ground.

It’s true, arsenal prematurely sold players without having adequate replacements. We especially sold them before they could pass that culture down, and when they wanted to come back, wenger was against it. This was the biggest downfall of arsenal.

Other than backing terry for what he did, he was a world class player, 🤝

No one came close to Ashley Cole in his prime. I remember him at Arsenal getting the better of C.Ronaldo and other top wingers. What a player. Attacking alongside Pires and Henry, made it look effortless. Best ever left back from Europe hands down

He left because of money. Best LB in Prem History tho...

And then there's me who thought it had to do with money 😆

He asked 4 60k a week n Arsene offered 55k smh. Baring in mind he was the best left back in the world at the time n arsenal was falling apart

No matter what anyone thinks about him as a person you cannot fault him as a player,best left back in the modern era by a mile.

Instead of cursing. Players who left , the blame should be given to CEO's and owner who let them go.

Vivid memories of Ashley Cole being completely destroyed by fans most places he went and still put on world class performances. Elite mentality.

one word. money

You’ve got to give Ashley credit for the fact he never give a shite what people said about him. 1st class career 👍

My favourite LB ever

Ashley cole has to be one of the most underrated left backs ever!

the first reason was money, the second reason is more money at chelsea, the 3rd reason is less money at arsenal.

How did Cole lose to Everton in R4 of the FA Cup on penalties in 2009 (as it says in the beginning) if Chelsea beat EVERTON in the FA Cup FINAL of 2009

People try to say he was better at arsenal. We’re the only team in London to win the ucl

Cold hard cash

Severely underrated player.