One of those recurring rumours seems to revolve around the future of Joe Cole, the former England ‘star’ has had a season to forget at Anfield and it would appear a near certainty that he will move on this Summer.
I personally don’t really see Joe Cole as a particularly top player any more, I think injuries have started to catch up with him and lack of form seems to have hit him hard. It is therefore with great surprise that I constantly see him being linked with Harry Redknapp and Tottenham.
The 2 worked together at West Ham and it is thought that the English manager has always been keen to work with him again, Redknapp attempted to sign the midfielder from Chelsea last Summer, however the former England international opted for a huge pay day and chose Liverpool supposedly securing himself £90,000 a week. The Mail have done some maths and reckon that in wages Cole has cost the club £4.1million, and when you consider he has only started 9 Premier League games that begins to look excessive.
The same newspaper claimed over the weekend that his proposed move to Tottenham is nearing completion, and it is expected to be ratified after a week of stringent medicals. What does this really mean for Spurs though? Is it a good signing? I am not so sure.
When Cole first emerged onto the scene he was lauded as one of the best players of his generation and there was a lot of hype around the tricky midfielder. I think it is fair to say he never entirely met that potential, but it would be unreasonable to say that he hasn’t been an extremely talented footballer throughout parts of his career. His time at Chelsea was clearly the highlight, during his 7 years at Stamford Bridge, Cole was more often than not an important part of the first team picture and his good performances brought him some major honours, including 3 Premier League titles and 2 FA Cups.
His signing for Liverpool was seen by many as a major coup, and he went into the season on a bit of a high following the mass hysteria surrounding him during England’s abject World Cup performance, during which for some reason Cole was held up as the man we needed to be playing to lead us to the final. This season however things didn’t really pan out.
Redknapp is clearly one of those people that thinks the 29 year old still has a lot to offer, the player will have to take a large wage cut to secure the move, but in order to get more first team football I doubt Cole will mind too much. The main positive for Tottenham is the price, the media are reporting that it would only cost £3million to sign the player and in the modern transfer market that is somewhat of a snip, but I think that is where the positives end.
Firstly I am not entirely sure where Cole fits into the Spurs side, they are hardly short of attacking midfield talent, Van der Vaart, Modric, from central areas will be in competition with the 29 year old and from wide areas Lennon and Bale will provide competition. I am not at all sure that the former England international is better than any of those players, so without people leaving is he going to be a regular starter for Tottenham? There is even an argument that the backup players at White Hart Lane are better than Cole, it appears that Croatian international Niko Kranjcar will move on this Summer and to be honest that is another player that I would prefer to have over the former Chelsea man.
The real worry I think for Tottenham fans is what it means about the future of Luka Modric. Much has been written in recent weeks about the future of the Croatian, a move to Manchester United for £20million has been suggested and I think that would be bad news for Spurs and I hope for their sake it doesn’t happen. Modric is really a top player and I think he is irreplaceable without a huge outlay on a new player, the one certainty is that Cole isn’t the man to replace him.
There is no real evidence to suggest that the signing of Cole could signal the end of Modric at White Hart Lane, it is just papers putting 2 and 2 together, but irrespective of the future of the Croatian, I just don’t really see what the Liverpool flop can offer Tottenham at this stage of his career.
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This makes me want to cry. I bet Kranjcaer finds this at the least baffling, if not, insulting, and rightly so 🙁
I dont think they do, sounds like daily star bullshit to me
This article is hard to read on account of the chip fat on the newspaper……well its so old and ill informed bollox its only fit for wrapping a fish supper.Fact we do not need him or want him and he would only play in the team at the expense of other more important players.This story is a no goer and it just aint going to happen.As the other comment says its the sort of thing you read in a trashy paper like the daily sport next to “London bus found on moon” stories.