Just when everyone thought his star had burnt out, Cole finds new lease of life at a Galaxy far, far away

NEARLY four years after Ashley Cole scowled down the lens for the benefit of his boot manufacturers and told the world ‘I’m not done’, he makes an early exit from training. Trim as ever, Cole (left) pulls a fistful of shirt from beneath his GPS-tracking vest to mop sweat from his face as he strolls from the palm-fringed pitches. ‘I had to kick him off the field,’ said Sigi Schmid, head coach of Los Angeles Galaxy. ‘I thought he needed a break. Otherwise he would have kept playing.

‘He’s not one of those guys saying: ‘I’m older, I need a break here’. He’s happy every day when he’s on the field and he’s an example to everyone with the way he conducts himself and the joy he gets from playing football.’

Cole, it turns out, was right. He wasn’t done. Just as he promised in his moody commercial for Nike, released in December 2013.

Yes, he lost his place in the Chelsea team and was omitted from the England World Cup

squad but a splendid career has flickered once again under Californian skies.

Cole’s form has been typically consistent, winning over those offended when he initially shunned LA for Roma, claiming he was not ready to ‘relax on a beach’.

‘He has been one of the better left-backs in the MLS,’ said Scott French, of the magazine FourFourTwo USA. ‘He’s not the best leftback in the world anymore but he has been a real plus for the Galaxy in a year when they have had so many problems in the back line.’

Few players in the competition can boast more decorated careers and yet he is not one of the faces of Major League Soccer. In fact, he is not even the face of LA Galaxy. ‘No one knows who I am here,’ Cole told Sports Illustrated. ‘I can walk down the street with my son. For sure, if I lived in England, someone would be taking a picture.’

It was a rare and insightful in-depth interview, heavy with references to his public image and the way he feels his mistakes have been used to portray his personality as it never was. Cole, who lives near Hollywood with girlfriend Sharon Canu and their 18-month-old son Jackson, feels misunderstood and misrepresented. His relationship with the British media is not one he values or has any inclination to repair.

‘I don’t really like seeing myself on TV doing interviews,’ Cole said. ‘I don’t like speaking. I hate seeing myself in the newspaper. I never really spoke to the press. I wouldn’t change that to be some kind of golden child.’

But just as he was at Arsenal and Chelsea, Cole is hugely popular among his team-mates and has impressed Galaxy with his readiness to respond to corporate and community requests and has shouldered his share of post-match media duties, despite all his reservations.

Cole is 36 and his Galaxy contract will end next month with the MLS season. For his services this season he will receive £290,000. By comparison, teammate Giovani Dos Santos is on £4m.

Earlier this year he revealed a desire to return to Chelsea ‘as a coach or a scout’ when he finishes playing.

Interest from thenBirmingham manager Harry Redknapp was reciprocated, although Cole earned respect at Galaxy by refusing to consider leaving in mid-season.

So maybe he is ready to return home. Or maybe this time he really is done. Maybe the very notion will make him scowl again.