Ashley Cole and Roma: an odd couple or the perfect end to a gilded career?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jul/15/ashley-cole-roma-serie-a

Version 0 of 1.

As Ian Rush once infamously admitted to much mirth, it was like living in a foreign country. Yet after a career that has taken him from the streets of Stepney Green to Arsenal, Chelsea and 107 caps for his country, the prospect of starting a new life in Italy at the age of 33 will surely not faze Ashley Cole in quite the same way.

It is now more than 25 years since Rush left the cozy confines of Anfield for an ill-fated season at Juventus and, besides a Gazza-inspired post-Italia 90 splurge of players that included David Platt and Des Walker plus Paul Ince’s relatively successful spell at Internazionale, Serie A has not been particularly kind to British players over the past two decades.

After David Beckham’s brief sojourns at Milan which ended with a torn achilles tendon that ruled him out of the previous World Cup, the most recent Englishman to try his luck in Italy was Jay Bothroyd, last spotted turning out for the mighty Muangthong United in Thailand despite only winning his solitary England cap in 2010. Having befriended Al-Saadi Gaddafi when the tyrant’s son signed for Perugia in 2003, Bothroyd’s adventure ended after two years as the club ran into financial difficulties and he was forced to swap the glamour of Umbria for deepest south-east London and Charlton Athletic.

Under Roma’s ambitious Italian-American president James Pallotta, Cole should encounter no such problems. The Giallorossi finished as runners-up behind all-conquering Juventus last season – their highest placing for five seasons – and with the progressive French coach Rudi García in charge for a second season, they are dark horses for a decent run in the Champions League having already signed several promising players including the Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan from Cagliari and the Argentina starlet Leandro Paredes, plus the experienced Mali midfielder Seydou Keita.

The question is whether Cole, not exactly known as the sharpest tool in the box despite his distinguished career on the pitch, has the requisite acumen to succeed after so many years cocooned by the financial rewards of the Premier League? Desire should certainly not be a problem given the nature of his public shunning by the England manager Roy Hodgson and the decision to take an untested teenager to Brazil instead of a player who has been among the best defenders on the planet for more than a decade.

However, while there is now an acknowledgement that Hodgson got it horribly wrong, doubts remain over Cole’s ability to still perform at the very highest level, as witnessed by José Mourinho’s preference to play César Azpilicueta out of position at Chelsea last season.

The example of Maicon – ridiculed by many British fans after being taken back to school by Tottenham’s Gareth Bale before an ill-fated spell with Manchester City – should provide plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Still only 32, the right-back was one of Roma’s outstanding performers last season and was preferred to Dani Alves for his country until it all went wrong against Germany. Similarly with the Juventus-bound Patrice Evra and the new Internazionale signing Nemanja Vidic, the pace of the game in Serie A is much kinder to those of advancing years and should allow Cole to make a quick adaptation to his new environment.

Perhaps his greatest challenge, though, will be the cultural one. In spite of his reputation as a prickly customer given regular run-ins with the tabloid press over the years, at least Cole had the honesty to address the issue directly in his first pronouncements as a Roma player on Tuesday.

“English players feel in their comfort zone in the UK. This is a chance for me to try a different language, culture and way of living,” he said.

García’s excellent grasp of the English language, having previously worked closely with Joe Cole in the former Chelsea midfielder’s season on loan at Lille, should help. Yet it will be up to the player himself to embrace the situation over the next two years, with an option for a third should all go to plan.

Cole has made a habit of proving people wrong throughout his career. There will be nothing he would like better than to do it again one more time.