Back in the day Ashley Cole was given dogs’ abuse for going from Arsenal to Chelsea, but there just seems to be no proper animosity now from fans towards former players. Cech, David Luiz, Giroud and now Havertz have all gone to the other side, but no one really seems to care and all those listed seem to still be well respected by their former club (apart from Havertz, who no one seems to care about either way).
Why has this rivalry died off? Arsenal and Tottenham players would never transfer to each other, nor Man United players to city or liverpool etc.
There’s a difference between transferring (close to) washed-up players like Giroud, Luiz, Cech and Jorginho, or unwanted players like Kai. None of these players were expected to start for the selling team so there was no outcry.
Ashley Cole was an academy project and an invincible, just entering his prime. He left THAT team over 5k in wages and silently started the selling off process. It’s completely different to the ones mentioned above.