Where will Ashley Cole go?

Ashley Cole has had a highly successful career but that career is now on the rocks, having not played a single match since March.

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Cole, who won multiple trophies with both Arsenal and Chelsea, joined Italian Serie A club AS Roma in July 2014 on a two-year deal, hoping to end his long career playing in one of the best leagues in Europe.

Cole’s time with Roma, however, has been a disappointment as he has only made 11 league appearances for the club and has not played a single minute of football since March.

Reports in August suggested that Cole’s contract with Roma had been terminated, given his lack of playing time in Italy, leaving him free to move to any club that wanted him.

It is now December and Cole is still not with any new club and there has been confusion about whether or not he has actually left Roma as previously reported.

Former Chelsea teammate Mohammed Salah joined Roma in the summer, but has been sidelined with an injury suffered early in the season.

Salah posted the following picture on his twitter account in November, showing him recovering from his injury.

Another day recovering 💪💪 @TheRealAC3 pic.twitter.com/tIbFgXqMW3
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) November 11, 2015

Notice who is in the background? It’s Cole, who is supposedly no longer with the Italian club.

So if his contract truly was terminated, why would the club keep him around for training?

Cole’s time in Italy has been a disappointment and on a number of occasions he has been shown to be isolated from his teammates, showing that the club hold no real love for the former English international.

So with the January transfer window approaching, reports surrounding Cole have begun to swirl that suggest a number of clubs are interested in taking him on for the rest of the season, giving him an opportunity to save the remaining moments of his career.

Aston Villa have been the team with the most reported interest in signing Cole, with French defender Jordan Amavi out for the rest of the season.

Villa reportedly hope to use Cole’s experience to play him alongside former England teammates Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards, giving the team further hope of avoiding relegation.

The Birmingham club are dead-last in the Premier League and are looking more and more likely to be relegated, despite bringing in Remi Garde to help right the ship.

Given the fact that Villa are struggling, would Cole opt to sign for them if a bigger pay day was offered?

Reports further suggest that former Arsenal teammate Patrick Vieira is lining up a deal to bring Cole to the MLS, where Vieira is currently manager of New York City.

Cole is well known in England for choosing to take a big money move, rejecting a new contract from Arsenal and opting to move to London rivals Chelsea purely for a bigger salary, earning him the nickname of Cashley Cole.

If Cole moved to Aston Villa, he would likely find himself in the clubs starting lineup early on and would be given plenty of chances to play, trying to help the club survive in the top flight.

In the MLS, he may find himself in a similar position but may also find himself only playing sporadically, but arguably for a larger salary than what Villa could offer him.

So what will Cole choose? A chance to resurrect his career in England or one final big money move to the US?

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