In what has, essentially, proved to be nothing more than a drawn out player swap involving Yossi Benayoun, Liverpool snapped up free agent Joe Cole on a four year deal following his release from Chelsea. Despite interest from both Tottenham and Arsenal and the chance of Champions League football, Cole opted to join the Roy Hodgson revolution at Anfield following weeks of summer speculation.
Much has been made of Cole’s excessive wage demands and it seems they have ultimately played a large part in determining his new employer. Carlo Ancelotti, having previously been confident of the midfielder staying at Stamford Bridge, recently conceded:
“The problem was economic. There is a problem between the club and Joe Cole, not me. We have spoken about this but when the problem is money, then it is not my problem.”
However, it is believed that West Ham bettered the £90K per week offer from Anfield, but the challenge of first-team football under Roy Hodgson was too good for Cole to turn down.
Following on from the free signing of Milan Jovanovic, Cole becomes the Reds second close-season signing to date, though with the former already lined up by Rafa Benitez, the 28-year-old England man becomes the first “real” Roy Hodgson capture.
His arrival seems to have re-invigorated certain key figures around Anfield, and as the club gears itself towards a season without Champions League football, two of its leading lights seem delighted with the transfer:
Jamie Carragher
“It’s great news and a message that Liverpool means business. We have signed a top international a lot of clubs wanted to sign but it is a real coup that he has chosen to come here and you have to give the manager and the board a pat on the back for convincing him to come here. It’s the kind of signing we needed to make.”
Steven Gerrard
“Joe is a great signing for us. I’ve told him what a great club this is and I’m sure Joe’s the kind of exciting talent our fans will love to see.”
Judging by these responses, Roy Hodgson has certainly shown his shrewd man-management skills, even before the new man has taken to the field.
The Statistics
Opinion…
Pure Olivia
“Joe Cole is just the sort of player I tend to avoid. His obvious skill and name recognition mean that he’ll, very likely, be overpriced compared to his Fantasy Football return..
He‘s never had a stand out season; 144 is his previous best score. FPL have priced him at 9.0m and for that, there are much less risky mid-range options, like Milner and Arteta.
If I transfer him into my team at any point it will be as a bandwagon, he‘ll accumulate transfers quickly because he‘s well known, but I can‘t see him being an ever-present in my team.”
Having being something of a prodigious talent in the West Ham youth system, Cole eventually went on to star for the first-team 126 times, grabbing 10 goals, before moving across London to Stamford Bridge.
He spent a total of seven seasons at Chelsea, with 28 goals in 183 league games, but these stats can almost be split into two parts; the first three seasons saw him an integral part of the first team, but since then he has been a peripheral figure to the club’s success.
From the 2006 season onwards, Cole started only 58 (2, 28, 14, 14) league matches over the past four seasons. Injuries including cruciate knee ligament and stress fracture of the foot have certainly not helped his cause, but in all honesty, he’s been no more than a squad member under a variety of Blues managers for a considerable while now.
The Prospects
With Roy Hodgson not long in the door at Anfield, Liverpool are very much a work in progress. The club’s last few seasons of continual rotation under Rafa Benitez will surely be a distant memory, as, by and large, Hodgson is a manager who plays his favourite starting XI week-in, week-out; only during the very late stages of Fulham’s Europa Cup run last season did he look to rest key Craven Cottage individuals.
At this stage, the squad transition is in its infancy, with Fabio Aurelio released in May, Emilia Insua on his way to Fiorentina for £6m, Javier Mascherano linked with Benitez at Inter, and the likes of Sotiris Kyrgiakos, Phillip Degen and Albert Riera expected to depart soon, it’s too early to predict who Roy will bring in and allow to leave before the transfer window closes come the end of August.
As this piece on Hodgson‘s tactics confirms, however, he’s always been an advocate of 4-4-2 with pressing and a high defensive line throughout his managerial career, suggesting if reports of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 are correct, then the new Liverpool boss would pretty much be turning his back on the system he feels -and has always felt- comfortable with.
On completion of the deal, the player announced:
“I am proud to be playing for this club and will give my all in every training session and every game to help the club be successful and put some pots in the trophy cabinet..We have talked about positions in the team and types of formations Roy wants to play and I just want to be part of the team.”
Bearing that in mind, it’s a possibility that Joe Cole – given the success of midfielder Clint Dempsey as a second striker at Fulham under Hodgson- could play just off Fernando Torres, if the Spaniard chooses to stay at Anfield. At the moment, though, it’s all hypothesising, but one thing’s for certain: Roy Hodgson will shape Liverpool in his own image and given the lengths the club went to secure his transfer, Cole – coming in at 9.0 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) should be at the heart of it.
With players of similar and lesser pricing having an easier start to the season, most Fantasy managers will understandably stay clear, watching on as the new boy looks to find his feet at the club he describes “the biggest in the country”.