The Real, Actual Joe Cole [Coventry City]

[pondus]

According to .no we will pay him £3mill. That means we are saving £4mill, as the rest of his contract is worth £7mill.

[Chazza]

Liverpool will release Cole on a free transfer, approving a lucrative package to terminate his contract.

The former England midfielder initially appeared to be heading for a reunion with former manager Harry Redknapp at Queens Park Rangers, but the lure of a return to Upton Park was too strong to resist.

West Ham were unable to make a loan offer for their former player because they already have Andy *Carroll on a temporary basis from Liverpool. Premier League do not allow clubs to loan two players from the same side.

That forced West Ham manager Sam Allardyce’s hand, with the key obstacle being the finances of a *permanent transfer.

Liverpool knew they would have to agree a severance with the player they signed in the summer of 2010. Cole’s four-year contract on Merseyside is worth £92,000 a week, which West Ham cannot match.

Liverpool said they will save about £4 million by paying Cole to leave now, given that the last 18 months of his deal is worth about £7 million. However, that still equates to a considerable bill to move him off the payroll.

For his part, Cole is desperate to play regular football again, recognising he has no future at Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers. In fact, he has been a bit-part player under three successive Liverpool managers. Roy Hodgson never fancied him, Kenny Dalglish sent Cole on loan to Lille in the summer of 2011, and Rodgers made it clear from day one that he was free to join another club.

The attraction of Upton Park, the club where he made his name as a schoolboy international and teenage prodigy, is clearly sentimental as much as professional.

Cole scored the equaliser in Liverpool’s 2-1 win against West Ham last month, but tellingly refused to celebrate the goal. Once West Ham had declared an interest, they were inevitably his first choice, despite his affection for Redknapp.

It will be an emotional moment when Cole wears the West Ham shirt again, his career having gone full circle, but there remains a sense of unfulfilled promise about a player who was once regarded the exciting future of English football.
Now he finds his career in need of resuscitation at the club where it all began. When Cole was only 16 and courting attention in the West Ham youth team, Manchester United were believed to be prepared to pay £10 million for him.
He made his debut in an FA Cup tie 14 years ago this month, aged 17, and was named the club captain when he was only 21.

After West Ham’s relegation in 2003 – having played more than 100 games in five years – he joined Chelsea, where he won three Premier League titles and two FA Cups.

His career has stalled since his last season at Stamford Bridge, when he struggled to recover from injury and was sidelined by manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Liverpool signed him at tumultuous period in their history, in the summer of 2010 when the club were for sale and looking for a new manager, while players such as Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina were considering their future.

It was hoped that the Bosman signing of Cole would send a message that the club retained their ambition to buy players of pedigree. He became one of the club’s top earners.

Instead, his move to Anfield began appallingly when he was sent off on his Premier League debut against Arsenal. After that, one setback followed another as he was unable to get a run in the side.

The new owners, Fenway Sports Group, then used Cole as an example of ill-advised recruitment policies of the previous regime.

With Liverpool still in the process of trying to move out big earners to relocate funds, they will welcome Cole’s exit.

He is unlikely to be the only departure from Anfield this month. Nuri Sahin – signed on loan amid a degree of fanfare from Real Madrid last August – is also free to end his spell prematurely.

The Turkish midfielder has struggled to adapt to English football and has been relegated to the bench. Fulham have joined the chase to take him on loan, with former club Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan also showing interest.

As with Cole, ending Sahin’s spell at Anfield will enable Rodgers to divert resources towards players he wants to recruit, rather than those inherited or thrust upon him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/west-ham/9776861/Liverpool-midfielder-Joe-Cole-to-rejoin-West-Ham-with-3m-pay-off.html

[danperkins]

Thank god he is going

[Tee]

Thanks for the memor......ah never mind, bye Joe.

[marcus50bucks]

Bascombe hinting that Sahin wasn't a Rodgers signing. First Assaidi and now this.

[Muddled]

Bascombe hinting that Cole wasn't a Rodgers signing. First Assaidi and now this.

Hinting? Cole was bought by Purslow - like, two years before Rodgers even arrived.

[dww]

Hinting? Cole was bought by Purslow - like, two years before Rodgers even arrived.

[marcus50bucks]

Hinting? Cole was bought by Purslow - like, two years before Rodgers even arrived.

Sorry I meant to type Sahin.

[Muddled]

Sorry I meant to type Sahin.

No need to apologise - I see the ... err, i and o are close on the keyboard.

I think Sahin is all Rodgers; he's made the most of his relationship with Mourinho, whilst Sahin has all the attributes I *think* Rodgers looks for in a player.

[Gibbo]

Alex, Alex!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can we move it? Can we? Can we?

Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase

[Icon]

Not gone yet...

[dww]

Not gone yet...

Apparently only our accountant will be able to tell when he has.

[Gibbo]

Neither had Carroll.

[Shaggy]

Rob Harris @RobHarris
West Ham midfielder Sebastian Lletget RT @SLletget: Training with my man Joe Cole today, top player, looking forward to it #whufc

[Neil Young]

Sebastian who?