Ashley Cole's Biography

Ashley Cole was born in Stepney, London on 20 December 1980.

He established himself as a regular left-back in Arsenal and England sides. However, on 1 September 2006, on the last day of the transfer window, Chelsea snapped up Ashley Cole in exchange for £5m and French defender William Gallas.

Ashley Cole joined Arsenal as a trainee and apart from a brief spell on loan to Crystal Palace in 2000 had played all his football for the Gunners.

However, Ashley Cole was the subject of controversy when it was reported that he met Jose Mourinho and Peter Kenyon of Chelsea in January 2005 while under contract to Arsenal.

On 1 June 2005, Ashley Cole, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea were all found guilty in the 'tapping-up' affair. Ashley Cole was found to have broken the rule preventing a player contracted to one club making an approach to another club to negotiate a contract without prior written consent from his club.

Ashley Cole gained 4 Under 21 caps and made his full England debut in a World Cup qualifying match against Albania in March 2001.

In June 2005 it was announced that Ashley Cole and Cheryl Tweedy from Girls Aloud had got engaged. They married on 15 July 2006, however they split up in 2010.

In 2008, Ashley Cole hit the headlines when the front pages of the tabloids reported a drunken night he spent with a 22-year-old, Aimee Walton.

Around the time of his transfer from Arsenal to Chelsea, Ashley Cole released his autobiography, My Defence.

On 5 March 2009, Ashley Cole was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.

In February 2010 Ashley Cole broke an ankle in Chelsea's defeat by Everton in the Premiership and was expected to be out of football for around three months.

February 2010 continued to be a bad month for the footballer. Soon after allegations in the press about Ashley Cole having had a fling with Ann Corbitt, Cheryl Cole announced that she was separating from her husband.

On 3 September 2010, Ashley and Cheryl Cole were granted a divorce at the High Court in London.

On 9 February 2011, Ashley Cole became England's most-capped full-back, making his 87th appearance in a friendly against Denmark. He went on to win 107 caps.

He joined Roma in July 2014.

However, after just 16 appearances, in January 2016, it was reported that Ashley Cole was to join Los Angeles Galaxy.

Cole made his debut for LA Galaxy on 25 February 2016. He was released by LA Galaxy when his contract expired in November 2018.

In 2019 he joined Derby County, managed by his former teammate Frank Lampard, on a 6 month contract.

In August 2019, he announced his retirement from playing professional football.