Ashley Cole is not a Chelsea player any more. After remaining at the West London club for as many as 8 seasons, the 33-year old has finally made his way away.
His contract at the Stamford Bridge is finished. So, the clubs around the world can sign him on a free transfer now.
There have been reports of a couple of Major League Soccer clubs being interested in him.
Chelsea released a farewell statement yesterday for one of the most successful players in the club history. That statement read, “Ashley Cole is no longer a part of the Chelsea squad and we want to tell him goodbye. He has been a big contributor in the success that we have achieved in the last one decade. After coming from one of our rival clubs, that is, Arsenal in 2006, he became a consistent performer for us and we always tried to give him as much support as possible.”
“We highly appreciate the things that he did for the club during his tenure. He himself would also be quite satisfied with his career at Stamford Bridge. He won almost every trophy here including the European Cup and the Premier League. Arsenal, on the other hand, after his departure, suffered a trophy drought which ended only towards the end of the last season with their FA Cup title win.”
During his 8-year stay at Stamford Bridge, Cole played more than 200 Premier League matches for the Blues, 229 to be precise. He found the net 7 times in those matches.
Cole’s performance in the back line was one of the main reasons why Chelsea had become an immensely powerful side in the second half of the last decade.
The veteran left back is approaching the end of his career now. He has already quit international football and it doesn’t seem that he would continue playing club football for a long time either.