The transfer of Joe Cole was one of the most speculated and talked about transfers of the summer, with a host of clubs being linked to the player. Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United all looked to be leading the pack of suitors at various times before Liverpool snapped him up in July. Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson has since revealed that he passed up the opportunity to sign Joe Cole, stating
“We were approached by his agent at one point but we didn’t enter into discussions at all. It was maybe just complicated to get involved with that.”
Ferguson obviously did not see enough in Cole to warrant signing him, but with Man Utd seemingly struggling with creativity this season, will it prove a missed opportunity for the United manager?
After signing from West Ham, Joe Cole had a great career at Chelsea, where he won numerous titles and cemented himself as an England regular. In his last couple of seasons at the club however, Cole suffered from injury problems and as a result did not get a great deal of first team football, although he did score a crucially important goal at Old Trafford in April 2010, in a victory that sealed the league title for Chelsea that season. Perhaps the injury problems Cole experienced was what dissuaded Ferguson from entering into discussions with him, but you imagine that if United had expressed a firm interest, Joe Cole would have jumped at the chance to join the Red Devils. Instead, it turned out to be Liverpool who signed Cole, and morale amongst their supporters and players skyrocketed when it was announced.
It is true that Cole has not enjoyed the greatest of starts to his Liverpool career. In his first team debut he was sent off against Arsenal for a rash challenge on Laurent Koscielny, and four days later he missed a penalty in a Europa League qualifier against Trabzonspor. Joe Cole’s quality is undoubted though, he is an excellent dribbler of the ball, he is creative, and he is capable of scoring goals. Perhaps the biggest string to his bow however, is his ability to change a game in a matter of moments, he is one of those rare players who can provide that little bit of magic that can completely turn the tide of a match.
For all Manchester United’s strengths, creativity seems to be the one area where they currently seem to be lacking a bit of quality, especially in the centre of the park. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are fantastically creative players, but Ferguson will not want to be relying on players in their mid thirties for this, and sooner or later they will retire. Darren Fletcher is an effective defensive midfielder, and is capable of the occassional great pass, but this is not his role. Michael Carrick seems to have completely lost form, whilst Darron Gibson is young and the jury is still firmly out on Anderson. It means that Scholes is the only consistently creative player of real quality who plays in the centre, and this is not a great situation to be in.
On a free transfer, Joe Cole could have been the ideal solution to this problem area, and it would have given United a formidable midfield to feed Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. Man Utd will hope to sort out their defensive difficulties when Rio Ferdinand returns to full fitness, but the lack of creativity they seem to have could be a recurring issue for the club, and Ferguson might just regret rejecting the chance to sign Cole come the end of the season.
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