Arsenal have misjudged a few young talents over the years.
Yaya Toure was on trial at Arsenal at one point, but the Gunners didn’t sign him, while Ruud Gullit also had a trial at Arsenal before becoming a Ballon d’Or winner.
Eberechi Eze was released by Arsenal as a youngster, and now he’s a Premier League star too.
Andy Cole was another big-name player who was on Arsenal’s books as a youngster, but, the Gunners ultimately decided to ditch Cole at the age of just 20, selling him to Bristol City.
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast, Cole has been discussing his departure from Arsenal, and he says that he left Arsenal because they didn’t believe he was going to be a good goalscorer, internally thinking he would only get around 10 a season.
Why Arsenal sold Andy Cole
Cole spoke about his departure from Arsenal and what the Gunners thought of him.
The legendary striker says that Arsenal believed he wasn’t good enough to score goals at the highest level.
“The penny dropped for me when I was at Arsenal,” Andy Cole said.
“How old was you?” Cole was asked.
“I was 19, so I was about 20, 21-ish,” Cole said.
“Yeah, I was there. And then I got sold to Bristol City. Yeah, and I went, okay, no problem, that ain’t no problem. But all the noise that was coming out of Arsenal at that time was like, oh yeah, they don’t believe he’s gonna be good enough to score goals at the highest level.
“They only believe he’s gonna get 10 goals a season. They only believe he’ll be able to do this.
“So I said, okay. Okay, that’s all I need. That’s the fight I needed. I’m saying, and I will run with that, yeah, for the rest of my career, knowing that there’s so many people there that doubted me, yeah. Didn’t doubt me when I was there, but as soon as I left, all the noise comes out.”
Andy Cole career stats
It’s fair to say Arsenal got this one massively wrong.
Indeed, Arsenal didn’t believe that Cole had what it took to be a top goalscorer, and, eventually, he became one of the best goalscorers in English football history.
Indeed, Cole would go on to win all there is to win with Manchester United, and he scored tons of goals along the way.
| Andy Cole career stats | |
|---|---|
| 599 | |
| Goals | 265 |
| Assists | 103 |
| Golden Boots | 1 |
| Most goals in a season | 34 |
Interestingly though, Cole never had a good record against Arsenal.
For some reason, Cole couldn’t quite find his scoring touch against his former club, netting just three goals in 21 appearances against the Gunners.
| Andy Cole record vs Arsenal | |
|---|---|
| 21 | |
| Goals | 3 |
| Assists | 3 |
Cole went on to become a top class striker after leaving Arsenal, and the Gunners probably lived to regret letting the England international leave at such a young age.
