Cole can't lose in this 'tap' dance

14 April 2012

Amid all the heat generated by the unproven 'tapping' allegations that Ashley Cole met Chelsea in a clandestine meeting last week, there has been one clear winner. Ashley Cole.

The 24-year-old England defender is in the advanced stage of negotiations with his club about a new contract. As one of the best left-backs in the world he has already been tipped as a future captain of Arsenal.

The club say an agreement is close but until Cole, currently on £27,000 a week, signs, the chasm remains vast.

Arsenal's offer is close to £50,000 a week, but Cole's agent, Jonathan Barnett, believes he is worth more. A weekly wage of £70,000 or £3.5 million a year has been talked about. Barnett argues that if Robert Pires, 32, is worth £52,000 a week then surely Cole, who is nine years his junior, is worth more.

And what better bargaining tool than to have it suggested, in some detail, that Chelsea, the wealthiest club in the world, want Cole. Of course they do - along with a whole host of clubs.

Whether the meeting between Jose Mourinho, Peter Kenyon and superagent Pini Zahavi took place in a west London hotel has still to be proved.

Chelsea have refused to go on the record officially and deny the story. Kenyon again ducked the opportunity to kill the story in a BBC Radio 5 Live interview this morning.

But manager Jose Mourinho dismissed it on Sunday by saying he couldn't have been meeting Cole last Thursday in a London hotel because he was meeting Brazilian star Adriano in Milan.

And sources close to Chelsea maintain no such meeting took place. They say the witness who signed a sworn affidavit for the News of the World in which he claimed to have seen Cole with Mourinho, Peter Kenyon and Zahavi at the Royal Park hotel, Lancaster Gate last Thursday was a victim of mistaken identity.

Barnett, meanwhile, has dismissed the report as rubbish but has not specifically denied the story.

With so many half denials it is no surprise that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called on Chelsea to come clean and demanded a Premier League inquiry.

Wenger said: "The story could be a tactical move," but was carefully avoiding pinpointing whether this included Cole.

Significantly, the player has yet to say a word. At the training ground he has been defiant amid the inevitable verbal onslaught from his team-mates. And he has taken time to assure Wenger that he is "committed to the club".

Cole told Standard Sport nearly three weeks ago he is optimistic a deal will be agreed, but ominously warned: "What I want is to be paid on my ability and what I have achieved. I am not being greedy, I want to make that clear. I would like what I think I deserve."

The talks have been going on since early Autumn and, as negotiations reach a climax, what better card to play than a strong Chelsea link?

Arsenal believe a deal will be reached. "How many players have left that we wanted to keep? "one insider asked this morning. "If we want them to stay, they stay. Vieira - he was going wasn't he? And Henry? And Lauren?

And Campbell? They are still here."

But, with the row rumbling on, Cole should go on the record and stat e that there was no meeting and he is staying put.

Only he knows why such an assertion has not yet been made.

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Cole can't lose in this 'tap' dance

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