For the best part of two weeks, every Arsenal fan I know has been very keen to tell me that Joe Cole has agreed a deal to join the Gunners. I did find it slightly hard to believe, I just couldn’t see him wanting to go there. Not solely for footballing reasons but I just can’t imagine him fitting in very well there. He strikes me as a guy who needs to have a laugh and a bit of banter and I don’t think Wenger and co are going to provide any of that. Maybe now he’s got a kid he’s his thinking is different but I can see no reason why he’d want to go there rather than come and work with familiar faces at Tottenham.
When Harry Redknapp said last week it looked like Cole had already agreed a deal with a club, I started to think that maybe the Arsenal rumours were true. The fact Redknapp has done a U-Turn in the last couple of days and declared his interest in signing the Chelsea and England star makes things very different. Something must have happened to make Redknapp change his position so dramatically. Last week he basically said there was no chance, he’d been told Cole was off the market but now he’s made his intentions very clear.
The only negative I can see from Cole’s point of view where a move to Spurs is concerned is the fact we still have to qualify for the Champions League proper. Also, the fact we aren’t Champions League regulars and it’s going to be no easy task to repeat the feat next season would mean his contract would likely contain a lot of conditions, but I don’t really see any problem with that. Being one of the most desirable free agents in recent years, his wage demands will be huge but there are ways around this with signing on fees, bonuses etc so we wouldn’t necessarily have to destroy our wage structure!
A good World Cup for Cole may create new interest from abroad for his signature but from a neutral point of view, I honestly believe Tottenham to be his most likely destination. Obviously I’m also hoping that is the case but the lure of working with Redknapp again coupled with the fact he would feel very much at home with a number of friends and England team mates at the club must make Tottenham a very attractive proposition.
Cole would be a great addition! Playing him on the left of midfield and moving Bale to left-back would work wonderfully… he would cut inside and Bale would overlap nicely.
However, I do think Arsenal would be very tempting for him. Fingers crossed eh?
I agree with Davis in that I can see Cole going for Arsenal. He would have to drop wage demands to join them – or us. I am not keen on him to be honest. Cole keeps wanting to play central, but he cannot see that his style of play means that he will lose the ball too often. Too dangerous in the middle to do that. The guy has quality, no doubt, but I just worry about his head.
We’ll see. The worst thing here is the title of the article – where’s the truth in this?
I would love to see Joe Cole at Spurs, but I believe he is more likely to go to Arsenal since they are in the Champions League proper and on current form are more likely than us to be guaranteed Top4 again next season.
The other reason is that Joe is a Spammer at heart and he has said many times before that his mates would never forgive him if he went to Spurs. This may sound frivolous but it is probably ingrained in his thinking, whereas Arsenal are seen as OK by Spammers, probably due to their dominance over us for many years.
However, if Fabregas goes to Barcelona, then maybe Joe would reconsider.
For me, Joe would be the best signing we could make this summer, a clever, inventive goal-scoring mid-fielder with loads of Premier League experience…priceless!
Simply: He must be signed.
Cole has experience at the levels we want to be at and would undoubtedly improve our squad.
It’s a no-brainer for me. Give him whatever clauses he wants, a nice big signing on fee and keep him in the current high wage bracket at the Lane.
I’ve wanted him at WHL for years and never quite believed it would happen. Fingers crossed!
COYS!
I don’t see any reason why he’d have Arsenal on his mind. Spurs would be ideal for him imho.
dont see why we wouldnt be able to pay him 100k a week, levy would allow it as theres no Tfee
Injury prone luxury player. We don’t need him.
Joe Cole isn’t a young (in football terms) lad anymore. Doesn’t have the hunger or the fitness anymore either.
Bale is like the shittest left back ever btw
ideal if he’s fed up of winning trophies, yes
C***chops… lovely name… If he’s really tired of winning trophies he should go to Arsenal. 5 years and counting..
Joe is the twenty plus goalscoring midfielder we’ve been searching for.
Arsene said he will win a trophy next season. FACT.
I agree with Cuntchops.
Bale is the shittest left back, probably like, ever.
And Joe Cole has said in the past he would never join a pants club like Tottenham Hotspur. His words, not mine.
He said it last year too
He will go to Man Utd. I know a person who works for a newspaper and he has told me that Joe Cole has already agreed a contract with Man Utd after rejecting offers from Arsenal, Spurs, Man City, Juventus and Chelsea. However the transfer can’t be brought out until after the World Cup in order to divert any unnecessary questions on pressure on Joe
I’m not his biggest fan but Joe Cole is (in his mind at least) a top class player who has spent most his career playing regularly for one of the best and most succesful teams in the world and this is his last chance at a big move. I can’t believe that you’d be naive enough to think that “a laugh and a bit of banter” would even remotely affect his decision, in fact its highly insulting to his talent and level of intelligence.
This is someone who’s accomplished things; who has genuine affirmation of his own quality. He knows he good enough to be at the top. Why would “banter” even register with him? Do you think he’s so senseless that something completely trivial would influence him to risk compromising or wasting his elite talent? How small minded.
Not too sure what the story is here, if Chelsea thought for a minute he would benefit them they would have signed him up months ago, I think there is more to this than his wage demands, a great player, it will be very interesting to see what happens, I’d say he’ll sign for Man U.
I believe arsenal lack inexperience players,soin my own opinion i want arsene wenger to buy players and fast
Will def happen if he said it then….
Joe Cole is definitely a player worth signing, because of his quality. Not sure what the hold up is on the money..the club is saving a fortune in transfer fees so why not just give him 100k p/w on a 2 year deal (taking account of age).
If we don’t sign him its a shame, but we do have a very similar player who happens to be MVP for the CONCAF tournament and subsequently runner up young player of the tournament for the WORLD CUP!!! Yes…its GIO DOS SANTOS! Does anyone else agree that Gio should be in the 1st team playing whether he starts or is regular sub? I think its a gen. concern that if he goes elsewhere he’ll prob resurface at Barca or somewhere being toubted as a candidate for world player of the year with a price tag of £60+m – Think Spurs are wasting world class talent!!
One other thing…we definitely need a better left back and central defender – agree with Cuntchops that Bale is shit at defending & Assou-Ekotto isn’t good enough.
Micah Richards would be a good reliable player to bring in to cover central defence and right back duties – think Harry could bring out the best in him again and get him back in the England squad.
Just read that we are still pursuing Craig Bellamy – why?! Selling Keane to “finance” a move for Bellamy! Just how much is he going to cost?!! There are better strikers out there – what about Mutu – absolutely fantastic forward who is available – could of had Podolski last year for £9m, but just seemed to ignore his existence – never even been linked with Dzeko – and what about Suarez 50 goals plus 2 in the World Cup; don’t let him join Utd please!