Thierry Henry spent eight years as an Arsenal player.
The legendary French striker was one of the best in the world when he donned the famous red and white, and he produced some truly incredible moments.
Henry was very close to many of his teammates at Arsenal, and he still maintains a great relationship with some of them.
The 47-year-old has now had his say on how one player was treated by Arsenal when he was there.
Thierry Henry says Ashley Cole was disrespected by Arsenal
Ashley Cole joined Arsenal as a teenager before making his senior debut as an 18-year-old in 1999.
The Englishman played over six seasons as a Gunner. He was comfortably the best left-back in the country in that period, and he got better and better each year.
In 2006, however, Cole decided to leave Arsenal after a disagreement with the club during contract negotiations.
Thierry Henry has now revealed that the Gunners went back on their promise to Cole, which was disrespectful because they had already shaken hands on the terms of his new deal.
That is why Cole left Arsenal and joined Chelsea, and he doesn’t get any love from fans of the North London club as a result.
Henry believes that is wrong and feels Cole deserves a lot more respect than he gets.
He said on the Stick to Football podcast: “There was a guy I want to talk about. People, I don’t understand why in this country, he doesn’t get his respect – Ashley Cole. Ashley Cole was outstanding.
“What I didn’t like… first and foremost, Ashley Cole is an Arsenal man. All his family support Arsenal. I don’t care what people say, Ashley Cole is Arsenal.
“At the time, he didn’t want to say what happened. Since then, Mr (David) Dein apologised. They shook hands on something and came back with something else. I’m sorry, but I saw myself at Juve being disrespected. I understood Ashley. If you shake hands with someone and you come on a Monday and it’s not the same thing…
“Since then, Mr Dein apologised, there you go! Why are still people not giving this guy his respect after everything he has done? Ashley Cole was outstanding!”
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Ashley Cole’s record at Arsenal and Chelsea compared
Cole is right up there with the greatest left-backs of all time.
It’s not usual to see a full-back who is world-class at both ends of the pitch, but Cole was exceptional in attack as well as defence.
The Englishman was incredible for Arsenal, and he then moved to Chelsea and became even better.
Games Goals Assists Trophies won
Ashley Cole at Arsenal 228 9 21 7
Ashley Cole at Chelsea 337 3 33 9
Cole joined Chelsea for the prime years of his career, and he went on to win the Champions League with the Blues.
That is probably why Arsene Wenger named selling Ashley Cole as the biggest regret of his career, and we’re sure he thinks about it even to this day.
Arsenal lost many more players in the following years to their rivals, and some of those moves probably hurt more than Cole’s transfer did.
But, the left-back became more successful than anyone else after leaving the Gunners.