Liverpool sign Joe Cole
Liverpool have signed Joe Cole on a four-year deal - subject to a medical - following his release by Chelsea.
The 28-year-old England midfielder left Stamford Bridge in June after failing to agree a new contract with the Premier League champions.
He was linked to Arsenal and Tottenham but has opted for Liverpool, who failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Undoubtedly a good signing for Liverpool on a freebie, and the move should allow Cole to play regular first team football - something I'm not sure he would've found at Arsenal or Spurs given the depth of attacking midfield choices in both squads. He'll bring some extra creativity to Anfield, something that was lacking last season and was likely to decrease further with the loss of the under-rated Yossi Benayoun.
What do you think Liverpool fans? Are you pleased? Where will he play? How have Liverpool found the cash to afford his wages when Chelsea, Arsenal & Spurs couldn't? Are the money problems at Anfield exaggerated?
Cheers,
AM
26 comments:
This is like a swap between Benayoun and J.Cole . Im sure J.Cole is a better player , so if he get a regular 1st team start (i think he will) then he will have a good season ..
Now i think If Liverpool keep Gerrard and Torres they will have a good season
Riena
Gohnson Carrager Skertl Agger
J.Cole Gerrard Lucas Babel
Kuyt Torres
Thats a good team , and Manager does not rotate his team , thats fun for YFF cuz we will be able to pick Liverpool players ather than Gerrard Torres without be worrying about rotation
i see gerrard leaving liverpool now. there is no way the new manager will want to play with one (injury prone) striker, no matter how good he is, and i can't see him putting both gerrard and cole, two very attacking players, both in central midfield. cole has publicly said he wanted to go somewhere he will be played centrally so it makes sense.
financially too. they are in a lot of debt. gerrard will command £25mil+. cole was a free replacement for both gerrard and benayoun. i expect gerrard therefore to leave, and a cheap replacement for benayoun to come in. probably someone defensive minded, especially with masch looking to leave as well
but one final question...why go to a club who don't have champions league football at 28 years old, when they are far from guaranteed to get it next season. surely he would have wanted to be guaranteed to be playing at the highest level for as long as he can. or did he plump for liverpool and their £90k a week over wenger's probable haggling over a salary in the region of £75k (he is good at that though), and spurs' overcrowded midfield?!
To answer your question, Nik, Liverpool's money problems are not exaggerated - Liverpool are being stupid. I can't recall anyone that Hodgeson brought to Fulham and played well, he succeeded only with the players that were already there. When Benitez left, it was obvious that Liverpool needed a manager that could buy well, as it was clear that many players would leave and Liverpool wouldn't have much money to spend. Hodgeson, by this standard, wasn't the best choice, and I guess O'Neill has proved himself as a much better buyer over the years at Villa (Milner, Collins, Dunne and co).
Liverpool only signed players with a free agent, sp they probably don't have a lot of money, and frankly Ivanovic and Cole don't solve the big problems Liverpool have - in defence and attack. They have just added two more names to the long list of attacking centre-midfielders with Gerrard and Aquilani, so they're still in a big mess. Or maybe, myabe, it is just anoher sign about Gerrard's sale to another club. And THEN they will be in an even bigger mess.
SF
as a chelsea fan im quite disappointed about all the joe cole saga with chelsea, was one of my favourite players of chelsea.
for free he's a great signing, i get the feeling money played big part of the move and secondary the first-team action, anyway good luck to j.cole at liverpool.
benayoun was under-rated, in my opinion he was one of the best liverpool players in recent two seasons, got some big goals for the team and i hope big things from him at bridge. :)
man city just signed aleksandar kolarov, from lazio. 4 goals and 4 assists in serie a and 1 goal in europa league. interesting pickup.
Well I'll offer my two cents:
For one Joe Cole is NOT a direct replacement for Yossi, nor do I think Yossi was ever under rated, he was decent and thats about it. He came up with goals, but usually against weak opponents like Burnley in which he got 3. I'd say 5mil + Joe Cole as free agent for Yossi was a great bit of business.
For all those who believe Gerrard is going to be sold, it is just not true. There is no bid for Gerrard, even from reported Real Madrid. He is a red now and will be next season.
The only player who will possibly leave is Masch. He is probably unsettled and wanting an exit. Losing Masch wouldn't be such a bad thing as we could move Gerrard to partner Lucas and have Joe Cole or Aquilani behind Torres. Anyone who wants to bash on Lucas should look at his tackle success rate. He can make mistakes but I think we need to keep confidence in the lad.
Jovanovic will provide good cover for Torres and Ngog is skilled albiet not a prolific striker that needs time to keep growing.
Overall I hold a lot of belief we will make it higher than 7th this year. I am not saying were going directly back into the top 4 but Liverpool is far from being down and out.
As a Liverpool fans, I am really pleased! We offloaded Yossi at about 5M (some said 5.5M) and got Cole for free. What a good swop! Especially LFC are lack of home grown player (8 required in the EPL out of the 25 registered squard).
Rumor said Cole's wage is 90k/week while Yossi's are 60k, which we paid 30k extra/week. The difference will added up to be 6.24M in Cole's four year deal. This mean we only paid 1.24M extra for a player 2 years younger.
Very good deal!
Joe Cole is a good pick-up for any team. Liverpool will do better this year. Hopefully, Chelsea will do worse. Ha Ha.
@ Kavedas
Aquilani should start over Lucas
@AdmiraLord
Yes totaly forgot about Aquilani , but i think he will play in Babel's place cuz Liverpool need at least one defensive mid ... i like them to play 4-5-1 like this
--------GK----------
------- DF----------
---Lucas Aquilaini --
Kuyt---Gerrard------J.Cole
-------Torres----------
Now that would be magnificent
1st-I have tried to contact Yahoo about there FF plans without success, every email gets the same form letter back, even to the President's office, its Tuesday the 20th and now I am nervous.
2nd @ALN and Kavedas-Aquilanini was useless under Benitez, he certainly is not a defensive midfielder. If not useless he is more of a Rosicky/Modric type player, a creative midfielder too slow to play on the wing.
Cole I like and I hope is FF price is around 5.5
cheers
chrism - lucy vincent meet-up? before it completely erodes into the sea, that is....
@teeth-
absolutely will be arriving on the 15th and leaving on the 29th. We'll figure something out. phone in chilmark is 645-8024 @ 6 North Ridge Road off of Meeting House
I look @ the Kavedas team and first I think it looks really great but then I just got the feeling that they need something else. They can´t have Lucas and Aquilani, no way. And I don´t think Roy H will play that team either.
They need a stronger defensive midfield. And I think we will see that when the first game starts. Roy is a manager with a very defensive mind, everything is built on a strong defence. My point is, if they find (and I think they will)a solution for the defesive midfield, then Pool will be in top 4 again. But Lucas and Aquilani is not the players rely on.
@ chrism- I understand your point concerning Aquilani but to compare him to Modric makes me a little but sick. He has a long way to go in the PL before he is up for any such comparison. In my mind at least.
Sounds like a good pickup for Liverpool. Bargain-priced MFs who can score goals are always welcome. Hopefully he'll be fitter than he looks in the photo, and ready to play.
Benayoun was too streaky and not in the lineup enough to be of much use.
@rwlwhite: Gerrard commits future to Reds, never worried about him leaving
@Anonymous: Have you checked Liverpool's squad yet? They have a very talented Defensive Mid, Javier Mascherano, and his is still a Red, all move transfer is gossip and unfounded as of yet. Not saying he couldn't move still, but for now he is a Red and no replacement is needed, nor do Liverpool need to solve the "defensive mid" aspect.
As I'm sure most of you know, Joe Cole is really really injury prone. I like him as a player, but what are the chances he stays healthy? I would say from his track record that there's a very slim chance that he stays injury free. Add to that Torres and Gerrard's tendency to hurt themselves and again Liverpool's depth will be exposed. Hodgson is a very smart manager, so I'm sure he'll be working to provide more depth the squad, but Joe Cole just seems like a very risky signing. Even though he was free, 90,000 a week if he's injured again hurts. I hope the team can stay fit, but most of the key players are injury prone (Torres, Gerrard, Aquilani and now Cole)
Also, isn't Hodgson more of a 4-4-1-1 manager?
Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger?
Cole Mascherano Aquilani MaxiRod?
Gerrard
Torres
No transfer fee but £90,000+ is going into Cole's pocket every week (well, half to the tax man :)). He is not worth that with his injury record. The £5m for yossi pays his wages for 1 year of his four year contract. How good do you reckon a 31 year old Cole is gonna be? cos he'll still be adding £5m a year to the liverpool debt...
No matter where Joe Cole ended up it would always be scrutinized and labeled for the money. However, it is true his statistics do not provide full proof of his talent, there are many other uses for a player beyond assists and goals (Thanks Neal on your site for providing the stats).
There is a morale boost having a player with a big name on the field, tackle success, the passer to the passer who assists the goal, the architect. I believe Joe Cole can be this for Liverpool and add a couple of important goals himself (ahem remember Utd last season?)
Either way I think its an exciting summer aquisition after Arsenal and Spurs also wanted him, surely he will get more playing time at Liverpool to truly shine (fingers crossed)
Forget defensive formations! Liverpool need to score goals!
how about a 3-4-2-1
(that would get Torres back in form real fast!)
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger
Joe Cole Mascherano Gerrard Maxi
Kuyt Babel
Torres
I actually think it's a very decent signing for Liverpool.
Joe Cole may appear to be overated, if you just look at statistics. But you have to take into consideration that for much of his time he has been stuck out on the wing. He is not a winger.
If Hodgson plays him in the centre, it will bring the best from him.
Liverpool get even better and under the control of Hudgson the team is the surprise candidate for the pl champion...I think Hudgson will continue to transfer some players ezpecially to tthe left back...My prediction for the team now is
--------- Reina ------
Johnson Carragher Agger LB
Mascherano
J Cole Gerrard(C) Aquilani Jovanovic
F. TORRES
Cole is a good signing for any team.
I would have liked him at United.
Liverpool will benefit greatly and i think will probably get third this season if Hodgson can get 2 defenders and 1 more striker.
TBH though Berbatov is showing why he should be selected and i think will be a key player for United this season.
LC
@anon
Sorry, I didn't mean to compare Acquilani's abilities with Modric. I am a great Modric fan, its a shame he doesn't do well in terms of fantasy points.
Aqua is a Modric type player-a creative passing midfielder, not a defensive midfielder. I agree there shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath in terms of ability. Sorry to make you sick
I take back all my remarks about liverpool struggling next season. If certain players stay healthy, they will have a great chance with the players they have now. Joe Cole will be scoring dempsey type points this year it seems.
Post a Comment