Is Cashley staying a good thing?

[arsenal55]

I think not :( . Chime in..

[Teso Dos Bichos]

It means you are laboured with an unhappy player and are forced to pay for the privilege. Not good.

[ibby]

Yes in terms of making Henry happy, and he is the best left back in england.


No terms of money, the happiness of the player and keeping a greedy player like him.

[Jeff L]

Let him rot in the Reserves for a few games to show him the "error of his ways". Then, hopefully, Real Madrid will come in for him, and he can sit next to Reyes on the plane !

[Bighorn]

Regardless of Mr. Cole's happiness I think we've done the right thing.

1. Shown that the club won't be held hostage by a player for reasons of wages, playing time or anything else.
2. We should have valued the player highly as we'd have been selling him to a league rival (and one that is known to overpay). Obviously when doing this you have to get a higher price than when selling him to a team from another league.
3. He's a damned good left back and our team is better with him than without.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Will number three continue to be the case though? It's a big risk keeping him at this moment in time.

[Bighorn]

Will number three continue to be the case though?

Ask me in 6 months.

...and yes it is a big risk. The risk is valued at 20m gbp or more.

[phishy]

like i said before... anything over 12M will be stealing money.
i personally have zero interest in anything ashley cole does.. be that he stays here, moves on, dies of pancreatic cancer, etc.

[Charleysurf]

I think Chelsea will still come back in for him. It's not good for them to get a reputation for leaving transfer targets hanging in awkward positions with their clubs.
They're so devious though, that nothing would surprise me. I always thought it would be weird for them to hand over 20m to one their rivals.

[GoonerMan]

as much as i want him gone im glad we havnt let burns and smithers (kenyon and moaninho) get there own way and take the piss. its good to see us saying 'give us what we want and u can have him, otherwise, jog on you sigh's!. chelski the t055ers wont bully us. kenyon and co, up your bid and you can have the little ballbag, otherwise, run along!

[phishy]

as much as i want him gone im glad we havnt let burns and smithers (kenyon and moaninho) get there own way and take the piss. its good to see us saying 'give us what we want and u can have him, otherwise, jog on you sigh's!. chelski the t055ers wont bully us. kenyon and co, up your bid and you can have the little ballbag, otherwise, run along!

i love goonerman.

[Prawn Sandwich]

I think Chelsea will still come back in for him. It's not good for them to get a reputation for leaving transfer targets hanging in awkward positions with their clubs.
They're so devious though, that nothing would surprise me. I always thought it would be weird for them to hand over 20m to one their rivals.
Considering the price that Zambrotta went for, 20M pounds let alone 25M was dreaming. I've got a feeling Arsenal will back down and sell him, the guy will be poison in the dressing room - especially when his book comes out.

IMO you should cut your losses and run

[Teso Dos Bichos]

I applaud the attitude shown by many of your fans to this but it's being very naive thanks to Cole's quite public antics. You aren't in a strong position at all.

[phishy]

I applaud the attitude shown by many of your fans to this but it's being very naive thanks to Cole's quite public antics.

whatcha mean teso?

[Teso Dos Bichos]

whatcha mean teso?

Look back over the vast wilderness of footballing history and see what happens when clubs try to keep unhappy players. Your stance is admirable but ultimately pointless considering Cole's actions. Perhaps if you had shipped him out when this whole thing started you would have been in a better bargaining position but you have left things too long. Chelsea hold all of the cards and to have turned down a bid of around £20 million is stupidity at this point, particularly considering the bad blood between the player and the club, coupled with his contract situation. Fair enough, if you want him to rot in the reserves then fine. However, to try and play hardball with Chelsea is very naive. They know he is unhappy and they can very easily go elsewhere and buy a comparable talent for less money. We'll see what happens but you could very easily get burned by the whole situation. It's not a risk I would be willing to take, especially at this late stage in pre-season.

[phishy]

Look back over the vast wilderness of footballing history and see what happens when clubs try to keep unhappy players. Your stance is admirable but ultimately pointless considering Cole's actions. Perhaps if you had shipped him out when this whole thing started you would have been in a better bargaining position but you have left things too long. Chelsea hold all of the cards and to have turned down a bid of around £20 million is stupidity at this point, particularly considering the bad blood between the player and the club, coupled with his contract situation. Fair enough, if you want him to rot in the reserves then fine. However, to try and play hardball with Chelsea is very naive. They know he is unhappy and they can very easily go elsewhere and buy a comparable talent for less money. We'll see what happens but you could very easily get burned by the whole situation. It's not a risk I would be willing to take, especially at this late stage in pre-season.

OR...

keep the player for 2 years and lose him on a free.

OR...

sell him to a different league for less money, but thus not hurt us in the competitive sense.

******** chelsea... we dont need their money.. we aint QPR.

[CRASH 4 ARSENAL]

How does it make sense for Arsenal to sell a quality player to Chelsea? Even for that amount? While we don't have the money Chelsea has, £20 mil will not make or break us financially.

We may need to move Cole, but why should we sell him to the team we are trying to catch in our own league?

[Prawn Sandwich]

How does it make sense for Arsenal to sell a quality player to Chelsea? Even for that amount? While we don't have the money Chelsea has, £20 mil will not make or break us financially.

We may need to move Cole, but why should we sell him to the team we are trying to catch in our own league?
Because the funds would allow Arsenal to improve more than Chelsea will with Cole in the side. Keeping him isn't closing the gap, selling him would IMO

[fox point fury]

sell him to a different league for less money, but thus not hurt us in the competitive sense.

I'd much rather sell him to Real for 15 than Chelsea for 25 anyways.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

OR...

keep the player for 2 years and lose him on a free.

OR...

sell him to a different league for less money, but thus not hurt us in the competitive sense.

******** chelsea... we dont need their money.. we aint QPR.

Like I said, history shows what keeping unhappy players does. It's a very big risk. Given your need to strengthen and the stadium loans, it's lunacy to lose out on £20 million, just to make a point. Who will you sell him to, particularly now Carlos is staying and taking into account Cole's comments regarding racism? Why settle for much less money when, as Prawn stated, Cole being at Chelsea won't make much of a difference? I'm all for sticking the middle finger up at Jose/Kenyon/Abramovic/Chelsea, but not if I'm losing out on £20 million just for the privilege of doing so.