Ashley Cole retires: 'Now I want to be great at being a coach'

Ashley Cole announced his retirement from playing professional football on Sky Sports' Super Sunday program.

"After hard-thinking and consideration it was obviously time to hang my boots up and look towards my next chapter, which will hopefully be coaching," the decorated left-back said.

"I'm doing the course at the moment. Now I want to be great at being a coach."

The 38-year-old won two Premier League titles and three FA Cup winners' medals with Arsenal before moving to Chelsea in 2006 following a drawn-out transfer saga. He surprisingly won the Premier League only one more time with the Blues but hoisted the FA Cup on four further occasions in addition to his triumphs in the League Cup, Europa League, and Champions League.

Overall, Cole collected 13 major honors during his 20-year career and appeared 107 times for England. He retired from international football after being omitted from Roy Hodgson's Three Lions squad for the 2014 World Cup.

"I probably didn't grasp it as much as probably I should," he admitted about his experiences representing England.

Cole left Chelsea for a spell with Roma in 2014 but lasted just 18 months in Italy before he joined the LA Galaxy, where he played 86 times in Major League Soccer. He then moved to Derby County in January of this year for the final stop in his career.

The Rams, overseen by Cole's former Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard, missed out on promotion to the Premier League when they lost 2-1 to Aston Villa in May's Championship playoff final. Cole became a free agent in the summer.