It was like a song out of the now defunct group 98 Degrees, the song being “Invisible Man” of course.
Ashley Cole has come out of the blocks and revealed, in a series nonetheless that the people at Arsenal did absolutely nothing to keep him.
Cole said he was treated with disrespect and the Arsenal board and fans prefered him to Thierry Henry, and yet he says he isn’t a ’sour grape’ over Henry’s popularity.It doesn’t makes sense does it?If he can’t garner respect and ‘affection’ from Arsenal where in truth Henry rules than how on God’s planet does he intend to win over the crowd at Stamford Bridge who have names like Shevchenko,Ballack,Terry,Lampard,Makelele and etc to chant rather than his?
He says it wasn’t because of the money…and i don’t think i quite buy that story.
It all began in 2004 when he was offered a new £60,000-a-week deal, however when negotiations began in earnest Arsenal decided to slash that to £55,000 a week, and of course a star studded,hardworking,affection seeking player like Cole can’t accept that!
So the saga began and now we know how it ended as Cole moved to big bucks Chelsea while another attention seeking player,William Gallas headed the other direction.
Here is what Cole had to say about Arsenal,kinda reminds you of the RVN ’stab in the back’ story:
He said: “The club made Thierry feel wanted and special, wooing him, wining and dining him, speaking in public about how much they want him to stay, going on a deliberate charm offensive.
“But me? I didn’t have one dinner, one meeting or one phone call from anyone. That’s not sour grapes, it’s just a sad truth. The truth is that the Gunners had done nothing all season to hold on to me.”
He added: My worst fears were confirmed when, as Thierry and I sat in the centre circle after the final whistle, his name was sung from the rooftops while my contribution was recognised by a deafening silence.
“As his chants faded away we waited for mine. And we waited. And there was nothing. ‘They’re not bothered about me’, I said, resigned to the fact. It was like I was the invisible man.“
Do you really think that Arsenal and Arsene Wenger didn’t want to keep Cole? I highly doubt it, the sale to Chelsea lasted until the very last minute in the transfer window, doesn’t that say something of how much Arsenal would have prefered to keep Cole instead of gaining Gallas?
If you ask me, i think the one that profited from all of this is Arsenal, they made a cool £5 million and they gained an experienced player in Gallas, who can actually play almost anywhere at the back, such versatality is immense in the modern game and where have you seen Cole play except the leftback position? 
***Update: No Sympathy for Cole
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