Blues mock Arsenal’s lack of recent silverware…
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Chelsea have used their goodbye message to Ashley Cole to have a sly dig at London rivals Arsenal.
The defender is leaving on a free transfer having spent eight years with the club, after joining from Arsenal back in 2006.
The club’s statement felt the need to remind fans that in that time, Cole has won the Champions League, the Premier League, the Europa League, the League Cup, the Community Shield and the FA Cup four times with Chelsea, while Arsenal have won just the single FA Cup!
You can read Chelsea’s full departure message below:
Chelsea Football Club today says goodbye to Ashley Cole, a player who contributed enormously to the highly successfully period in our history in which we were crowned champions of Europe and won the League and Cup double for the first time.
Cole, whose contract came to an end yesterday, was a Chelsea player for eight seasons, making 338 appearances, 13 of those as a substitute, and finding the net seven times.
Throughout that time he was the England team’s left-back. He announced his retirement from international football in May having won 107 caps, a record for a full-back and the fifth highest total overall.
His remarkably consistent high level of performance was always appreciated by the Chelsea support, who welcomed him to Stamford Bridge even though he joined from big London rivals Arsenal, with William Gallas moving the other way as part of a transfer-deadline-day deal in August 2006.
Cole has had no reason to regret his switch across the capital, collecting winners’ medals for the Champions League, the Premier League, the Europa League, the League Cup, the Community Shield and the FA Cup four times, taking him to his all-time record seven wins in that competition’s long history. Arsenal without Cole did not lift silverware until this year’s FA Cup final a week after he played his final Chelsea game.
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