Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has claimed that selling Ashley Cole to Chelsea is one of the biggest regrets of his life.

The legendary Frenchman sat down for a chat with David Seaman on his podcast this week, and of all the players who left us during his time at the club, he says he regrets Cole’s departure the most.

Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger says he regrets selling Ashley Cole to Chelsea

Ashley Cole was an academy graduate at Arsenal. He came through the ranks in North London and made his debut as a teenager under Wenger in 1999.

The Englishman played 228 times for us in all competitions and helped us win three FA Cups and two Premier League titles.

He was the best left-back in the country back then, but in 2006, he decided he wanted to leave the club.

Cole went and joined Chelsea and became the best left-back in the world there. He won almost every trophy available with the Blues and went down as a legend at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking about players he was sad to sell, Wenger revealed that Cole’s departure was the ‘regret’ of his life.

He said: “Well, of the players who left Arsenal who had a very big career after leaving Arsenal, I would say Ashley Cole. He was the only one who moved on and improved his career.

“It was a regret of my life. We recently had a meeting with the Invincibles, and he was in the meeting. I was glad he was in the meeting because he had a bad feeling and I had regrets that he left the club at the time.”

The Insider’s View:

Arsene Wenger was forced to sell a number of top players during his time at Arsenal, but nobody really went on to have a career as good as Cole.

Yes, the likes of Robin van Persie, Thierry Henry, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas all won big trophies elsewhere, but none of them took their game to a whole new level.

Cole did that, and what hurts the most is the fact that he did it at Chelsea, who went on to become one of the most successful sides in the country during his time there.

Hopefully, Mikel Arteta will not have to face a situation where he’ll be forced to sell our best players to rival clubs in the coming years.

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