Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says selling Ashley Cole was his biggest transfer regret.

Wenger admits the club made a "mistake" in allowing Cole to leave the club for Chelsea in 2006.

"The younger generation like Fabregas we lost earlier I would have loved not to lose him," Wenger - FIFA's chief of global football development - told beIN SPORTS.

"The player I think internally was a mistake to lose was Ashley Cole, because he was playing 9/10 years old for the club.

"I knew that Fabregas, taking him away from Barcelona, at some stage he will want to go back.

"But Ashley Cole came out of the club and I think there was a misunderstanding for few thousand pounds, you know and at the time, we speak about (Roman) Abramovich.

"When he came into a game, Ashley Cole is one of the few players who developed even more, continued to develop when he left."