Chelsea FC: Ashley Cole Signs Two Year Deal With AS Roma
Former Chelsea FC and England left back has signed a two year deal with Serie A giants AS Roma. Roma announced Cole was in Italy to discuss a contract but Sky Sports is reporting that he has signed on two join the Giallorossi for two years. The 33 year old has been one of the best defenders in the Premier League era and for years many believed that he was the best left back in world football. He lost his starting position to Cesar Azpilicueta last season but was still very effective when called on by his manager Jose Mourinho.
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This marks the end of an era for Ashley Cole as he leaves the Premier League and retires from international football in the same summer. Leighton Baines and Luke Shaw were chosen ahead of Cole for the England squad but both failed to live up to expectations with Baines looking particularly bad against Italy. Conventional wisdom suggests that you take your best and most experienced players to the World Cup but Roy Hodgson decided to ignore it and paid the price. Mourinho on the other hand had a very capable replacement in Azpilicueta and Chelsea fans certainly had no complaints about the move when they saw the Spaniard play the position.
Welcome to Rome, Ashley! @TheRealAC3 pic.twitter.com/wv00DuLINc
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) July 7, 2014
The biggest credit to Ashley Cole from Chelsea fans must be the fact that he decided to ignore lucrative offers from Premier League clubs, with Liverpool rumored to be one of them, to make a move overseas. He grew to love Chelsea after his controversial move in 2005 and the fans of the club loved him. Joining Liverpool or another rival club would have been a spit in the face to the fans that supported him the last nine years and he has clearly matured as a person since his move from Arsenal.
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