Chelsea career
Now in his sixth season at the club, Ashley Cole was a 2006 summer deadline day signing from Arsenal, to whom we paid £5 million plus William Gallas, and he made his debut against Werder Bremen in September that year.

A fabulous athlete who loves to go forward, he admitted at that season's end that Blues fans had yet to see him at his very best, a series of injures having hindered the settling process. Competition with Wayne Bridge for the left-back slot had ended with a roughly even share of games.

An ankle operation in the summer cleared the way for an uninhibited start to the 2007/08 campaign and with Bridge injured, Ashley got off to a flyer and enjoy the lion's share of matches that season, particularly for the big encounters.

His first Chelsea goal was lashed in away at West Ham in March 2008, and after surviving an injury scare in training on the eve of the Champions League Final, he recovered to put in one of the best displays on the night, including a successful shoot-out penalty.

In 2008/09 under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Ashley was utilised far more in attack but with the arrival of Guus Hiddink, the full-back had his wings clipped, focusing more on defence, a tactic that paid off with a number of clean sheets.

Voted Players' Player of the Year at the end of 2008/09, Ashley had put previous injury concerns behind him to turn in a personal record number of club appearances in a season (49).

He won the FA Cup against Everton in 2009, a feat repeated in May 2010 against Portsmouth when he entered the record books as the only man to win six FA Cups, three with Chelsea in 2007, 2009 and 2010, and three with Arsenal.

The latest came at the end of another season of unfaltering consistency for arguably the best left-back in the world, his sixth FA Cup joined by his second Double, along with Nicolas Anelka the first man to do so with two different clubs.

On a personal level, he scored a record four times in the same season, including the Chelsea Goal of the Season against Sunderland in January, a deft flick after controlling John Terry's long pass expertly and cutting inside his man.

He supplied goals against Stoke and Tottenham, while finding the scoresheet in explosive fashion against Burnley, and then Spurs, before twice claiming assists at former club Arsenal in November 2009.

After fracturing his ankle in a challenge with Everton's Landon Donovan in Februrary, dedication and a fast-healing body helped him back before the end of April for the 7-0 win against Stoke, and he found the net one more time against Wigan on the final day of the league season.

For the first time in his career, 2010/11 saw him end the campaign as a Premier League ever-present, having started all 38 league matches. It was a figure that helped him over the 200-game mark for Chelsea, and for the second time in his Stamford Bridge career he ended the season as Players' Player of the Year, and returned into the PFA's representative XI, the only Chelsea man in the side, as well as Uefa's Team of the Year for 2010. 

Pre-Chelsea
A product of Arsenal's youth system, Ashley was born in east London and made his debut for the Gunners at the age of 18 in the League Cup.

He spent a three-month loan period at Crystal Palace at the end of the 1999/00 season, making 14 appearances and scoring one goal, his progress rewarded with his first Premiership appearance in the final league game of the season.

By the end of the following campaign, Ashley had taken over as first choice left-back from Silvinho, and the next season was handed his first winners' medals as Arsenal secured the Double, beating Chelsea in the Final. A year later Southampton were beaten in Cardiff to take the Cup tally to two.

He was also well on the way to his second Premiership title (playing 32 times in Arsenal's unbeaten league season of 2003/04) and had become an England international.

A third FA Cup win was added in 2005, and although his final Arsenal season saw him hampered by injuries, he recovered to start their Champions League Final defeat by Barcelona, his last game for the club.

International career
Having played for England at youth and Under 21 levels, Ashley was named in Sven-Göran Eriksson's first squad and made his full international debut against Albania in March 2001.

He played all five England games at the World Cup in 2002 and for many people, was one of his nation's star performers during Euro 2004 in Portugal. He was named in the all-star squad for the tournament.

He also played each of England's five games at the 2006 World Cup, but was absent in crucial qualifiers as they missed out on Euro 2008.

After nine years at the top of the game, he became England's joint-most-capped full-back in October 2010, matching Kenny Sansom's 86 caps in the 0-0 draw with Montenegro, going on to break the record in subsequent games, and he will now be earmarking a century of appearances for his country. He was voted England's Player of the Year for 2010 by supporters.