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After his contract expired at the end of the season, Ashley Cole was determined to play a bit more and had been actively looking for a new club. Recent quotes from his agent Jon Bartnett had suggested there were a number of clubs in for the left-back's signature, but their preference remained a move abroad. As such, negotiations bore fruit, and Chelsea's favourite left back will now be playing for Roma in the Serie A.
Welcome to Rome, Ashley! @TheRealAC3 pic.twitter.com/wv00DuLINc
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) July 7, 2014
This'll presumably be the last big club Cole will play for, so looking back, Arsenal, Chelsea and AS Roma will make for a fantastic trio of clubs to have turned out for. We haven't seen a lot of prominent English players leaving the Premier League to join prominent Italian/Spanish/German clubs in recent years, but given that Ashley had just about enough left in the tank for a couple of seasons of top-tier football, the Serie A shouldn't make for too shabby a destination for him.
Roma will be playing Champions League football next season (thanks Destro!), so that probably contributed to Cole's decision too. In any case, we now have a very good reason to watch them in action next season, and with luck, will get to welcome Cole back to the Bridge if the Champions League draws are kind enough!