PLAYER PROFILE

Ashley Cole, A

Position: Defence

Height: 5'7

Weight: 10st 8lbs

Date of Birth: 1980-12-20 Stepney, England

Ashley Cole, A

Ashley Cole has class, poise and a great eye for attacking options and is a calm, effective defender. While some see his defending as a weakness, he is obviously coming on in leaps and bounds, adding more silverware to his rapidly growing collection as the Gunners won the 2003 FA Cup, with Cole playing in his third final in a row.

He came through the ranks at Highbury's Centre of Excellence, initially as a striker, but was restricted to just a handful of appearances for the first team, with several of those coming in Worthington Cup ties when he made his debut against Middlesbrough in 1999.

An injury to Brazilian left-back Silvinho during the 2000/01 season gave Cole the opportunity of an extended run in Arsene Wenger's first team and the youngster did not fail his manager.

His excellent performances domestically and in the Champions League caught the eye of England manager Sven Goran Eriksson who included Cole in his first England squad in February 2001, and the defender has made the left-back position his own for the national side.

Although he has been criticised for going to ground too early at times and being rash in the tackle, he remains a vital player for Eriksson and Wenger.

Indeed, he proved his England worth during the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, starting each of his country's games before they went out to Brazil in the quarter-finals.

This success continued into the 2002/03 season where he picked up FA Cup and FA Community Shield winners' medals with the Gunners. By the end of the campaign he had made 79 appearances for the club, scoring six goals. He suffered a few injuries the following season but still managed to play over 40 games scoring on just one occasion - a memorable strike against West Brom.

His next goal was even more important for the Gunners when, in the 2003/04 season, he scored against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League in the 88th minute, keeping Arsenal's hopes of progression alive. Apart from a red card he picked up against Leicester City in December 2003, it was a great season for Cole, who capped it off with strong performances for England in Euro 2004, earning recognition in the 'Squad of the Tournament.'

This fine form continued into Arsenal's 2004/05 campaign where clocked up 46 appearances for his team, scoring twice. His form for England continued too as he proved to be a rock in the England defence in their bid to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

However, Cole's season was marred by a 'tapping-up' scandal with Chelsea. Towards the tail-end of the season, Mourinho's men were accused of entering into 'unauthorised discussions' with Cole over a possible move to Stamford Bridge - it is against FA rules for a team to approach a player without that player's team's consent.

Both parties, of course, denied that any such talks ever happened. After much deliberating, Chelsea were handed a €300,000 fine and a suspended three-point deduction, Mourihno was fined €200,000 while Cole himself was fined €100,000.

The 2005/06 season once again saw him hitting tabloid headlines, but on the pitch, he rarely hit the back pages, as an ankle injury meant he played only 14 games for the Gunners. He returned close to the end of the season, but found disappointment as he started the Champions' League final defeat to Barcelona and took part in England's limp performance in the 2006 World Cup.

The transfer saga with Chelsea rumbled on throughout the summer, finally coming to a head on deadline day in August 2006, when he joined the Blues in a swap deal for William Gallas.

His first season at Chelsea was an ultimately disappointing one. Although the Blues won both the FA and Carling Cups, they relinquished the league to Manchester United.

The season was also marred by niggling injuries and personal strife as he was constantly mocked by fans for his high-profile transfer and book 'My Defence'.

Thankfully for him, the 2007/08 campaign was far quieter and he proved himself a solid member of the Chelsea squad, despite some petulance cropping up every now and then.

Another impressive campaign followed in 2008/09 and Cole even managed to get on the scoresheet for only the second time in a Chelsea shirt. He scored what turned out to be the winner in the Blues' 3-2 final day victory at Sunderland.