Ashley Cole

[Funkyflashman 187]

Yeah no ban for England, who cares about that?!

Avoiding a domestic ban is more important!

Just pleased he'll make 100 caps. Though tbh I can't imagine a domestic ban will be enforced when an international one wasn't...

[Superblue 6,372]

Just pleased he'll make 100 caps. Though tbh I can't imagine a domestic ban will be enforced when an international one wasn't...

Oh, I agree. I'm not bothered at all about England but I like to see Chelsea players perform well for them and Ashley Cole getting to 100 caps will be fantastic. Hopefully Lamps will make it too. Both completely deserve it.

[xPetrCechx 13,569]

Oh, I agree. I'm not bothered at all about England but I like to see Chelsea players perform well for them and Ashley Cole getting to 100 caps will be fantastic. Hopefully Lamps will make it too. Both completely deserve it.

Only 7 more games...

[Milan 17,955]

Joe Hart on A.Cole: "Ashley is one of the best and has been for a long time — so reliable, so fit, so quick & he offers so much."

[Jase 43,479]

Sky Sports News ‏@SkySportsNews

Chelsea's Ashley Cole admits FA Improper Conduct charge for comments made on Twitter. #SSN

[DDA 9,925]

Ashley Cole is just an absolute beast of a player. He is the best left back to have graced football in my humble opinion and the shambles of an Association that is the FA should bow down to his wonderful feet and kiss them until he is satisfied.

[Superblue 6,372]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2217686/Ashley-Cole-leave-Chelsea-end-season.html#ixzz29JTaoBwx

More rumours that Ash will be moving on at the end of his contract this season. I can genuinely see this happening, but I also support the club's stance on the contract situation. If they cave in to Cole, then he will be 34 by the end of his new contract and presumably still on big money. If he were to go I'd like to think the club will give Bertrand the first chance to replace him, and if Robbie is still here next season I think that will happen. Bertrand is not as good as Cole but I believe further development over this season and a full season as first choice left back next season and he will be a top left back.

Within the article it also says Lampard likely to move on aswell. I think this depends on Lamps' mindset. Cole will move to a big european club, PSG perhaps and continue playing at a high level. However Lampard's options will be much more limited at 35 and if he were to move to the MLS like it's speculated that would be the end of his international career. If Lampard is still within the England squad towards the end of the season, he may want to keep playing at the highest level and stay at Chelsea one more year, possibly get a World Cup swansong and 100 caps (which would be fully deserved) and then move on.

[Pizy 18,864]

Just give him a bloody 3 year contract! HUGELY important player still.

[Tomo 21,751]

He's gone, we saw this with Drogba and Joe Cole, thinking they would sign the contracts eventually, neither of them did and left.

Lampard might accept reduced terms for the world cup swansong like Superblue said as his options will be limited but Cole can go elsewhere in Europe to clubs that will happily match his wages and better the length of contract so there is no two ways about it, Ash is on the way out of Stamford Bridge, lets make the most of him while we still can.

I would assume (especially if Robbie is still around) Ryan Bertrand will be made number 1, my biggest worry is who will be made number 2, Deen-Conteh has disappeared off the face of earth and Van Aanholt is crap.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I would assume (especially if Robbie is still around) Ryan Bertrand will be made number 1, my biggest worry is who will be made number 2, Deen-Conteh has disappeared off the face of earth and Van Aanholt is crap.

Van Aanholt has been massively impressive at Vitesse.

[Term-X 7,891]

If he goes to City (or any other premier league club for that matter).. that's his legend status out of the window as far as I'm concerned, I will mentally white wash him from history.

[Jase 43,479]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2217686/Ashley-Cole-leave-Chelsea-end-season.html

According to Daily Mail, Cole is set leave the club after rejecting a contract extension.

Considering that it's from Daily Mail, gonna just take it with a pinch of salt at the moment.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

It would be a disaster if we let him go because we won't sign him to a longer-term deal. Cole could easily be an elite level back for a few more years and finding another LB of similar quality will be virtually impossible.

[Rambo 1,729]

I for one will think he'll stay.

[dee25 1,044]

It would be a disaster if we let him go because we won't sign him to a longer-term deal. Cole could easily be an elite level back for a few more years and finding another LB of similar quality will be virtually impossible.

If the club actually lets Ash walk away at the end of the year, then they would be taking two huge steps backwards in my opinion. It's not only his experience or immense work rate that would be a loss, like you said, Cole's an elite left back and to find a suitable replacement without chucking up a huge sum of money, would be very hard. When you factor in transfer costs, it seems to me that it would make more financial sense to just extend Cole's contract for another 2-3 yrs.

As it stands right now, I think the two players we have for the left back position, is ideal - in Cole we have a "world class" player who is in the later stages of his career and might be more willing to, at times, take a spot on the bench and in Bertrand we have an up and coming youngster with great potential to develop into an elite player himself. To top it off, they seem to have a good relationship and Cole appears to be supportive towards Bertrand's development. It's just an ideal situation, the board shouldn't mess with it.