Possibility of Ashley Cole staying put at Arsenal.
37 Comments Published by Red Square on 8/09/2006 at 11:18.
There have been some intriguing comments made to the press recently which partly hint that Ashley Cole's transfer to Chelsea might not be as clear cut as originally thought.
Today, Thierry Henry has been quoted as saying he would like to hold onto Cole if he had the chance, and losing him would be a massive blow. Henry fears a Vieira-esque situation in which the absence of the player last season was a mental loss to the players.
"Obviously we want him to stay. He is one of the best left-backs in the world. We would miss him badly,"
"I don't know anything about the situation with Chelsea. But if he goes there it will look like we are trying to catch a team at the same time as giving them one of our best assets."
Jose Mourinho has also been moaning (shock horror!) and is becoming impatient with the move. He has said he will go elsewhere if a move is not completed shortly.
"If we have no solution about him in a couple of days, we turn the corner and we see other faces."
"Ashley Cole has not left yet, and if he does, we still have players who can come in for him or we can buy...the player belongs to Arsenal, we cannot do anything about it."
Wenger has been keeping pretty tight-lipped other than to say he also wants to see the player’s future resolved, one way or the other, pretty quickly.
If Ashley where to stay it would mean having the best left back in the country, but it would also mean carrying the new baggage he's picked up. He might not get the best reaction or support from Arsenal fans having already burned some bridges.
If a move isn't settled soon he could go for peanuts next year or for free the year after that, we will have to wait and see. But for now the ball is in Arsenal's court.
If he does stay, I would put him in the reserves on a matter of principle. He has lost all credibility in the eyes of many Gooners, and I think most would rather be glad to see the back of him.
For me, TH14's point about selling him to Chelski is the most relevant part of what he said.
I agree with Almere that most Gooners would be glad to see him go and even The Sun now refers to him as Cashley.
But he is still the best left back in the world and if AW and his team can turn him around, get him to sign an extended contract - because we don't want this bizarre situation occuring again in a year's time - and then the player himself can demonstrate that he means to stay then I, for one, would be delighted
unfourtuantly as much as i hate him you cant put one of the worlds best left backs in the reserve if you haven't got addequate cover which at the moment we dont, hoyte will be good one day but i think now is to soon. starting to think we need players with experience quite urgently now...
Guys
We need to put things into perspective.
AFC will not win the Prem in the next 2 years.
4th place is fine.
You must realise Wenger is building his most challenging project right now.
His aim is to create an outstanding team from a bunch of VERY talented young players.
IF these guys are around in three years and still ambitious (Cesc, V Persie, Kolo Cube, Eboue, Flamini, Senderos et al) we will kick the crap out of Chelsea.
Reyes and Cole have no place at AFC - Flamini was excellent at LB last season and could get better in that position. So lets not stress about this...
Clichy is Cole minus a couple of years experience, diamond earrings and a slapper wife.
So be patient - and the dream will come true.
Trust me - I know about these things.
I guess this is only about money. Arsenal don't want to sell but can't keep him without risking losing money in the medium term. Chelsea have offered about £16m and we want at least £20m to justify selling him to our biggest rivals.
If we sell for £16m Cashley and Kenyon will have felt they have won and got the deal on their terms. My view is don't sell him for less than £20m. It won't matter if we sell him next year as we will still get about £10m to £12m from someone and it must be worth £4-£6m to stop Chelsea getting their way. If Cashley still wants a move next year he will have to play well for us to win a move to a decent club and maybe Chelsea will have lost the opportunity to sign him.
Stand our ground I say!
Top let back - Yes
Top Gooner - No
Miss him as a player - Yes
Miss his as a Gooner - No
Unfortunately his relationship with the club and fans seem to have gone down the toilet. Its a great shame thats happened but i feel its time for him to go. Its gonna sting that Chelski get him though. If we could send him overseas it would be better but this whole affair has worked in Chelskis favour. But as i always say what goes around comes around. Karma will deal with Cole in time.
Karma already did deal with Cole Deise -
Haven't you seen his wife???
If we keep him, I think it could work in our favour as far as team morale goes. It would show that we aren't prepared to/don't have to sell our players if we don't want to. Obviously it'll take a while to forgive him, but it's no different to Ronaldo staying at United after saying he would never play for them again. Basically, he's a cunt, but we should try and keep him.
I've just had a thought........... and they don't come around too often, I can tell ya.
Cashley has two years to run on his contract with us. But Cashley also has signed a contract with a publisher for his book that slates us and details how he was "sold out" by us.
If Cashley stays then can he stop his book being published. If not then there's gonna be a whole heap of shit after its release, especially after the shit that's happened so far this season.
I honestly can't see him staying. Even if we accept the £16m offer from the chavs (I really hope we don't coz it'll mean that they've won). The last thing we need is an unhappy player wondering round in his gold lame suit, Mr T-esque gold chains and wailing harpy wife bringing all the other players down.
i have she's hot, your point? feel more sorry for her marrying a poof
No we won't have lost -
We will have gained £16m minimum for some scumbag player who doesn't want to play for us.
What will Chelsea get? A guy who is more interested in the money than the game that got him the money in the first place.
And remember - no-one prospers elsewhere after leaving Wenger...
Stringcity....
The challenge of modern day football,especially at a club like The Arsenal is to continually move forward whilst simultaneously challenging for honours at the highest level.I think Arsene has demonstrated his proficiency for this task throughout his tenure at the club.To say we will be finishing fourth and not challenging is a rather pessimistic view.Did you think our young guns would be 20 minutes away from winning the club it's first Champions League title last season??!
We are Arsenal and if you think Flamini is good enough to be our regular left back you are insane!!
Clichy is a great prospect,as is Armand Traore who has been awesome in pre-season but neither of them would adequately replace Cashley..not yet anyway.
I would be happy to see Clichy in that role next season but I still fear he is not the finished article and would be exposed against strong opposition.
You are right when you talk about our youngsters.. Senderos, Djourou, Clichy, Cesc, Walcott, Abou Diaby, Van Persie etc are all the future of this great club and with regards this we are the envy of all europe..
I honestly believe we can challenge for everything,even as Wenger builds his 3rd great championship winning side.That is the measure of the man.Arsene knows.
Firstly Rocky - thanks for asking?
Yes I am mentally ill.
But that is an aside.
Flamini did exceptionally well in that position in CL last season. He is not a natural left back but he was more effective in a 'constrained' position and based on the fact he never played there previously, hats off to the guy.
I might be pessimistic but I just don't think the experience is there to amass more points over 38 games than Chelsea.
Not for the next couple of years at least...
Cup competitions are another matter and yes - it was incredible that they made it so close last season to CL Final.
I just think instead of people saying 'we need this superstar or that one' it is better to build something from within.
The trouble with building from within is that players get frustrated & leave which puts you back to square one, thats why teams like crewe & west ham are not challenging for the title. Cesc is already one of the best midfielders in the world at 19 & he will not want to sit around for 3/4 years waiting for arsenal to catch up with the rest. If arsenal are not challenging for major honours the best youngsters will leave. I think a very telling sign of the current frustration at arsenal is shown by henry coming out & saying we need to sign players. I bet privately he is cursing the fact he signed a new deal with the club because his career is nearer the end than the start & he just doesnt have time to waste hoping our youth can produce.
I feel that Chelsea are perhaps slipping a bit. Cole will not be the same player there, he'll be 100% defender look at Ferreira, Del Horno, Gallas. He won't get the same freedom and his defending is suspect. He is an attacking full-back and that is why he stands out. It is no coincidence that he looks a shadow of himself when playing for England. Arsene Wenger plays in a way that makes even mediocre players look fantastic. Clichy is better defensively and, while he doesn't offer the same going forward, I think that this will change with a regular starting place. He will be more than an adequate replacement. Flamini is a part-time left-back, he doesn't know the position well enough yet, but Traore will be fantastic. We can't lose in this situation. Cole is more stupid than I thought if he thinks he'll improve at Chelsea.
if chavski dont match our valuation of £20m then they can sing for him. I dont think we should let him go for £16m no matter how much he hates us and we hate him. there are bigger things at stake here ie selling a player to your biggest title rivals. If we take a £6m loss on him next year so what? then next year he might just go to Madrid anyway. what say he stays for 1 year and Gallas stays at Chavs for 1 year and then they swap clubs next summer, when Gallas is free and we can still get £6m for cashley? he is only really worth that anyway.
I can live with watching him at LB for us all season. I mean I watch cygan and I dont like him much either.
I dont want cashley anywhere near the first team at arsenal. Look at his reaction to losing the cl final last year, he didnt give a stuff about it & just said he cannot wait to get away & be with england so he can be happy. I dont trust him & it wouldnt surprise me to see him deliberately make us lose goals to get revenge for blocking his transfer.
Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez wot r u chattin about!? As much as Cole has pissed me off u cannot say his wife is anything but hot!
Mick, clever assessment. Those who keep talking about 3/4 years success don't seem to leave in the real world. Even the main Real target is Fabregas and not Reyes. If we were to end up fourth again, I can't see how we will resist to an exciting bid from Real for Cesc next season.
I think this is the right time to make some ajustments by bringing some established players in some critical areas where we are really weak: Another stricker, one defensive midfield and the like of Gallas or any characteristic defender like him.
Firstly I think we are still behind Chelsea and believe it will still take a year, possibly two to fully catch them. We did amazing in the Champions League last year and we will build from that, but it takes something different to compete over 38 games against physical Premiership opposition. But I don't see it as doom and gloom; once we have caught up I believe Arsene would have built genuine, lasting success that will again see us compete at the top for years to come. As for Cole, personally I think selling him and strengthening one of your biggest rivals is a big mistake. Presumably the Board have offered him to Madrid and Barca?
i think our attacking options are good enough at the moment its the defence we need to sort out and sort it out with experience. we need a new keeper lehman was superb last season but we know that age is against him and that he'll be more likeky prone to injury this time around also his reactions will be that little bit slower. then after that i belive a solid experienced defender and a defensive midfielder would be good. thats all i want!!!
p.s cole for essien anyone???
Essien is even more unlikely that Gallas - would be a good'n tho. What about Issakson to take over from the mad one between the sticks ?
I echo the sentiments of Mick, whereby I agree mainly and trust Wenger etc, we can wait for four years for titles to roll in, by then most of youngsters will have left, you need a mix of youth and experience. I don't think we are as bad off as some think, remember last year we had the worst injuries ever not just by number by virtue of the same area Defence, and with Kolo away with Eboue and then Lauren injured we struggled, notice when they returned we were ok and put a run together. We are not twenety points worse than chelsea, rvp SCORED a legit goal that was ruled offside we were outplaying them. My concern is the Reyes issue, would much rather keep him, cashley I am neutral on, if he stays with apologies great if not bye we'll cope, unfortunately we start with injuries, so because of that we need 2 in, CB and DM, apart from that we are fine, watch us go, minimum 2nd place, a bit of luck and you never know. Have faith Gooners.
Mick & Ic
Who are these players who will make the difference and are they likely to be available ?
Thats the problem isnt it Flint. Wenger would have earmarked players he would like but that does not make them available. The same as all us fans say we need this player and that player. Needing and getting are 2 different things. An i agree with Wenger when he says that unless a player is better (and available) than the ones we have (even though the players we have for those positions are young) he wont buy them.
Flint- There are many players who could make a difference, I am not going down the road of listing them because quite simply I would be here all day. Are they available? Who knows unless wenger asks. Were overmars, anelka, petit, reyes & cole etc etc etc available until someone came calling.
What makes me laugh is people that come to sites like this telling us how wonderful everything is at arsenal & how we dont need players because our youth are the best in the world & no-one can touch us, then 10 games into the season when we have lost 3 matches those same people will be back on here slagging wenger off for not strengthening. Look at who we have lost so far, Pires, Bergkamp, Campbell & Gilbert all players that had a decent amount of games last season. Add to that the likely departures of Cole & Reyes, then you have 6 out & only rosicky in. If our squad couldnt cope last season then how can it cope this? The people who say the youngsters are a year more experienced now are talking rubbish, yes some have played a few games but certainly not enough to make them experienced. Players like djourou need at least 2 years constant first team playing before you can say that & you cannot bring so many through in one go. You cannot have a squad of say 25 & 18 of them youngsters who have not even played a full season, that is ridiculous.
Wenger has been at the club 10 years now, so why is it that we have so many players around 20 & under & so many players around the age of 30 but hardly any in between? The only way that happens is through poor management.
i dont see the point to buy more players look at the mid and strike most team will die to have,the only problem is in the back, if some how we end up buy world class CB i said we be ready for this year
and for cole he can go but not to chelsea,and i dont think arsenal will sell cole now maybe in jan to real,but if chelsea willing to do gallas then there will be a chance cole will go to the scum
You mean players in the 24 to 28/29 category right. Well we do have a few. Currently theres ...
Hleb - 25
Kolo - 25
Rosicky - 26
Freddie - 28/29
Ralf - 28/29
Henry - 28/29
Gilberto - 29
Almunia - 29
All first teamers. A few 30ish
Jens
Cygan
Poom
23 younger
Cesc
Senderos
Eboue
Reyes
VanP
Diaby
Clichy
Ade
Hoyte
A small bit on the young side but not that much to be honest. 2 payers from 24 to 28 and its balanced pretty much.
Look Mick,
Are you really expecting us to win the PL every year ?
It does not happen.
8 years in the top 2 is a fantastic achievment. Anyone who can do that with our resources gets my backing.
I can't see why you belittle the CL run. It wasn't papering over the cracks- it was an insight into the future. Papering over the cracks was when we won the FA Cup in 1993.
You mention Crewe & West Ham. Crewe hover in Championship/ League 1 , when virtually all their history was in the bottom league until Dario Grady arrived. They are at their level. West Ham had a golden generation of what Lampard, Carrick, Joe Cole & Defoe a bit later. Nowhere near a full team.
When we won the PL unbeaten in 2003/04 our only purchases were Lehmann, Sanderos & Clichy.
When do you call a player experienced? Is 100 games enough.
My anticipated 1st choice this season will contain 5 over 25.
If we can buy the right player yes! but if not enjoy what you have got. What the club has done on & off the pitch in the last 10 years is fantastic. Poor management ???
Just a thought....
Why the fuck doesnt Thierry know whats going on with the Cashley saga? Is he playing dumb or does he already know that Cashley' staying put and by him 'pleading' to the Arsenal hierachy in every paper in the UK, (not a usual Thierry trait) that he'll get the supporters back on side with Cashley. Lets face it, half the comments already on most AFC sights are once again warming to AC again.......... Because le god says so.
Yes I know, another Conspiracy Theory, but I reckon he's stayin, and if he's fit he should be in the starting XI.
Hes not that fuct up that he'll be tryin to chip Lehmann from 35yds out and say oops that was supposed to be a back pass!
If he plays he'll spill blood for the Gunners again. The dickhead fuct up, but I reckon he'll come around and realise the future is Arsenal.
His book is probably going to sell millions of copies, and yes, he has showed a ridiculous amount of disrespect to the club (and jersey) that have made him Englands finest LB. Some would say that these are actions of a brainless twit, I agree 100%. Frankly we didn't sign him for his intellect, we signed him (again) because the dickhead can play football. Arsene can do his thinking for him (because I dont think his wife can).
Lets play football lads and fuck CFC up the arse this year not next year or the year after that...THIS YEAR
Flint- We are the third most successful team in english football so yes we should be challenging for the premiership most seasons. I havent once said we should win it every year. Wenger has done well compared to what? Man utd won the premiership 8 times in 11 years with 3 in a row, has wenger even managed 2 in a row? Has wenger won the cl? Has wenger won the uefa cup? Has wenger won the league cup? Think about it logically just for one minute, most of wenger's trophies have come in two seasons (meaning we won 2 doubles) a very good achievement to say the least but please dont keep on with this "our budget" c**p as proof of how good he is. Apart from the big clubs we can afford to spend more than most & its impossible to say what other managers of smaller clubs may have achieved with wenger's budget at arsenal.
What I call poor management is being in a job for 10 years & then claiming you are going through a transitional phase. If a new manager had come in with different ideas then fair enough but wenger has had 10 years to get the reserves & first team right. We shouldnt need a transitional period, he should have seen all this coming.
Anyway, we just have different ideas about arsenal & what should/shouldnt be happening. I will be more than delighted to apologise if I am wrong come the end of the season. However if arsenal are struggling to get fourth spot or worse come the end I will more than feel my criticism was valid.
Mick-
Perhaps it is because I remember the dire times of the 50s,60s and a lot of the 70s & 80s that I think that the last 10 years have been a golden age.
Maybe my expectations are too low.
I have seen how teams are built,over several years,& how quickly they can fall.
Wenger has really been managing transition all the time but still kept us in the top 4 for 10 years. I don't see any other managers with similar budgets or bigger doing remotely as well as him. By the way he has never claimed we are in transition.
We have to agree to differ but thanks for putting over your argument so well.
Flint- I thankyou for having a proper debate. It seems like most sites you cannot disagree or you get personal insults. On the whole this site seems pretty good for keeping things to football.
I concede I have only been a season ticket holder for 19 years now so I cannot compete with your knowledge of previous era's (late 80's & the 90's apart). Maybe wenger has spoilt us & I moan too much but the truth is we are all fans wanting the best. If at the end of next season arsenal were relegated people like ourselves would still be supporting them no matter what.
Absolutely.
yes i agree, we all love the arsenal on here and its nice to see the passion going into a debate like this. Cole has got to go, he's like a cancer bringing desruption to not only the squad, but to the fans as well. take the 16 million, 14 mil for reyes as well, thats 30 mil. For the cole deal, i'd want geremi thrown in free, (strong, reliable, hard and can play in a few positions.). the only player apart from that i would want from the world cup would be sulley muntari leftside from ghana, and malouda. Otherwise anyone else would be a token gesture. Hleb at the beginning of last year would have me swearing my head off but look how he improved towards the end of the season. It does take a season or so for players to adapt to the wenger style but after that they take off! Imagine how great diaby is going to be. He will be wengers best buy of all time just wait and see.
Now for things a little lighter....http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
the headbutt league. joining code...2454-30214
alot of gooners there and a few others for light entertainment.
Hi To all gooners....
This Ashley Cole story is gone over the top!!
If a player wants to leave there are very few reasons that he might consider staying....We have to remember that we were in the CL final last season and Cole played very few games last season due to injury..Flamini played so well in in a position that he had to adapt to very quickly..
Wenger does not like loosing championship winning players,expierience and quality are what we need in a team of young players.We lost Pires Berkhamp Campbell this year and Probably Reyes and Cole are leaving too!!That is 5 squad players of high expierence at international level my question is why are we loosing these players...Ok Forget Berkhamp cause he decided to call it a day..But the others?
We cannot continue to loose expierence as we have to build again as we do not have the cash it seems to just go out and buy and even so its not the Wenger way..
I Agree with Thierry Henry that we have to hold on to Cole even though we all know that its been blown up by chelski to unsettle us last season and Cole knows that Long Term a move to chelsea would not be good for his future,If next season Chelsea dont win the champions leauge,with all the players they have bought then its Goodbye Murinho!!
Chelsea do not need to pay 25 million for Cole.
With their tapping up they can now sit back and know that they have disrupted our team.
Arsenal had the guts to report Chelsea to the FA.
If Man Utd , Spurs and Leeds had have done the same then Chelsea would be forced to stop cheating.
MU and Spurs were happy to cop a financial reward.
Chelsea are in a win , win situation.
They can buy Cole on the cheap or leave an unhappy player with us.
Chelsea's gamesmanship proves what a miserable team that they are.
Arsenal supporters should only care , if one person should ever leave us ,and that is the miracle worker himself.
Arsenal have no god given right to be any thing other than a mid table team.
Pre The Arsene Wenger stadium ( well if the Arsenal Stadium was named by the fans as Highbury , why can,t we rename the Emirates stadium ) , Highbury's ground capacity was about the tenth in the country.
The only reason that we have been in the top two for eight consecutive years and have played the most exciting football is because of AW.
The Board should come out and make a statement that Chelsea have made an offer that has been rejected and that he would only be for sale for 30 million ( Wright Phillips 24 million ????? ) and they will offer Cole a five year contract at 80,000 thousand a week.