"We are looking to sign just two players this season. The first one we have secured is Steven Gerrard. The other is a left-back. You are the best left-back in the world and we want you."
Cole reportedly stood up and replied: "Thanks but no thanks. I want to go abroad. If I'm not playing for Arsenal, I don't want to play for another English club."
It is a version of events that is flatly contradicted by Chelsea, who claim Barnett and Cole approached them to arrange a meeting.
They say no offer was put to the player by Mourinho and that Kenyon subsequently rang Barnett to say they were not interested in signing his client.
The whole affair is said to have been triggered by Arsenal reneging on a verbal contract made by the club's vice-chairman David Dein shortly before Christmas.
Barnett said he had agreed with Dein that Cole would be offered a new fiveyear deal worth £60,000 a week but when the official contract offer came through, it had been reducedto £55,000 per week.
Cole and Barnett were furious at the reduction and contacted Zahavi to engineer a move to a top European club.
