Joe Cole opt for Hammers and a £3m golden goodbye

• zocoss

  3 Jan 13, 09:24

  Cole Kops £4m to make Hammers return

  

  MISERY ... Cole struggled at Anfield

  Joe Cole is set to return to West Ham, as Sam Allardyce beats QPR boss Harry Redknapp to the signing of the Liverpool misfit.

  Hammers boss Allardyce moved in yesterday with a last ditch offer to re-sign Cole permanently, ahead of Queens Park Rangers.

  Key to the whole deal is an amazing £3million ‘golden goodbye’ from Liverpool, to offset the drop in Cole’s salary from £120,000 to £50,000 a week.

  Although that £3m represents only six months of the 18 left on Cole’s Anfield contract, the 31-year-old will get the security of a three-year deal – as well as the chance to resurrect his career at his boyhood club.

  Former Chelsea star Cole has struggled at Anfield and was loaned to Lille last season, but now Allardyce hopes to have his move tied up in time for him to face Manchester United in the FA Cup this weekend.

  Cole was given his debut at 17 by Redknapp, who was hoping their relationship would help ease a move to QPR.

  However, the spectre of relegation made a deal difficult to do and Cole has never hidden his affection for West Ham, the club he left for Chelsea in 2003 but has always remained on good terms with Hammers fans.

  Cole was groomed in the youth ranks at Upton Park and played 126 games for them before joining Chelsea for £6.5m in 2003.

  And Nicolas Anelka has priced himself out of a move to Upton Park after demanding £100,000 a week for a six-month stay.

  Anelka, 33, is sulking at China’s Shanghai Shenhua after a series of bust-ups.

  Hammers boss Sam Allardyce admitted after Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Norwich he “loved the player”.

  But he added: “The finances are a problem. We can only do what the owners can afford.”

  
  
• Medicated Oil

  5 Jan 13, 11:25

  Hope he perform well in his old club.

  He is going nowhere and not doing much in Liverpool.

  Ah Rod dunno how to use him.

• zocoss

  6 Jan 13, 12:00

  Amazing, this guy's first game he became their play-maker creating 2 goals for a player who has never scored before... And it was against Man United somemore... lol.

  The way he played last night i think WH is going to benefit a lot from it in the second half of the season. Had it not been for him United would have finished WH off last night... Instead United almost lost only for the late introduction of Robin and his superbly taken goal in injury time. phew.

• I.imba

  13 Jan 13, 23:36

  Well, maybe Liverpool is just not the club for him then