Having seemingly gone out of his way to make everyone hate him in 2007/08, Cole has a lot to prove in 2008/09. Don't hold your breath...
Despite the rumour, scandal and controversy that have dogged the Chelsea and England defender, when fit, Cole is still one of the world’s most dynamic full-backs.
Quick, tenacious and increasingly sound defensively, he combines a relentless desire to win the ball – he’s one of the few defenders to consistently get the better of Cristiano Ronaldo – with the running power and poise to ably support the attack.
After a brief loan spell at Crystal Palace in 2000, he won five major honours with Arsenal before an acrimonious switch to Stamford Bridge in 2006 which made him Public Enemy No.1 (the whole sordid tale was related in an ill-judged autobiography that sold about four copies).
Forced to sit back and defend more than at Arsenal, his career appears to have gone backwards at Chelsea, for whom he had won only one trophy, the FA Cup, by the start of 2008/09.