Arsenal are set to decline all offers for Ashley Cole this summer and risk losing their £15 million-rated left back for nothing in 2007.

The last threads of Cole's already-frayed relationship with the club are said to have been snapped by the Premier League "tapping-up" inquiry. He is aware that it was Arsenal's complaint about an illegal approach by Chelsea for their contracted player which led to his being fined £100,000 by a Premier League independent commission on Wednesday.

The FA Cup holders will dismiss offers from their Premiership rivals, and it is anticipated clubs in Spain and Italy will seek to take advantage and attempt to provide Cole with a route out of the club. Real Madrid, who have the wherewithal to pay a fair price for the player, are known to admire the England full back.

Arsenal might be forced to shift their uncompromising stance were Cole to hand them a transfer request.

Indeed, Cole feels so betrayed by Arsenal, who allegedly retracted a verbal agreement on terms of £60,000 per week, that he is prepared to take advantage of the Bosman ruling that permits out-of-contract players to leave for nothing.

"The relationship between player and club broke down before this (Premier League inquiry)," a source said yesterday. "Most clubs deal with their players properly; Arsenal have been ridiculous on this. He is worth £80,000 or £90,000 a week. He has played 41 games for England at the age of 24.

"He said from day one that he wanted £60,000 a week. If Arsenal had approached this sensibly they would have realised what they had. Good business practice is to identify your assets and lock them in.

"Look at what Chelsea did for John Terry. He is equivalent to Ashley: they sat him down and said, 'You're the linchpin of this team', and they made him the highest-paid player at the club."

Cole's legal team yesterday reached the advanced stages of their draft appeal, expected to be lodged with the Premier League panel today. It is one that puts him on the path to challenge English football's regulations and may yet take them to the European courts.

On opening contract talks with the club late last year, Cole is understood to have stated he wanted £60,000 a week to extend his contract beyond 2007. When Arsenal allegedly reneged on their handshake, the player apparently sought alternative employers, prompting the meeting with Chelsea at London's Royal Park Hotel on January 27th.

It is claimed that during that meeting Cole revealed discontent at his £27,000-a-week wage and that he was losing faith in the manager Arsene Wenger's record with young English players.

Cole denied that this was the case under questioning at the hearing, however his decision to press ahead with an appeal, against the wishes of the vice-chairman David Dein, can be interpreted as a sign of the tensions between club and player.

Those tensions, however, are comparatively insignificant when compared to how his agent Jonathan Barnett's relationship with Arsenal has been affected. The English Football Association is currently investigating his conduct during the affair.

However, the FA will not be seeking to convene similar hearings to those conducted by the Premier League and will instead use that body's findings as the basis for its inquiry. Barnett believes he has been smeared by the Premier League commission, which stated that he had "manipulated" his client.

"I will fight to clear my name," he said yesterday. "I've been made more hated than Osama Bin Laden. All this could have been settled by gentlemen, but it wasn't.

"I will not rest until my name and Ashley's have been cleared."