Former Chelsea and England player Joe Cole has revealed he had the chance to sign for Spurs instead of Liverpool back in 2010, but simply couldn’t join the club after playing for their London rivals.
Joe Cole came through the ranks at West Ham and, after impressing with the Hammers, earned himself a move to Chelsea in 2003. Cole was part of the revolution in West London when Roman Abramovich took over the club and injected cash into the club.
After 281 appearances, 39 goals, and 45 assists for the Blues (Transfermarkt), the time came for Cole to move on. He would join Liverpool in what was ultimately a disappointing period for Cole, before spending time at Lille, Aston Villa, Coventry, and heading to the USA to finish his career.
Why did Joe Cole reject Spurs?
Cole may be wondering what could have been after that switch to Liverpool didn’t go to plan, and the pundit has been reflecting on his decisions at the time in a recent appearance on The Obi One podcast with John Obi Mikel.
He said: “I had a choice between Liverpool or Spurs because Arsenal pulled out and I just couldn’t go to Spurs. I just couldn’t. It would have made sense, Harry Redknapp was the manager, I lived in London, they had a good team, half my pals are Spurs fans. I just couldn’t do it.
“My daughter was just born and Liverpool is a great club. It didn’t work for me there but it is a great club, an institution globally and if I could have my time again, I would go… no wait, I’d have gone abroad, somewhere hot, because playing in the heat actually helped my knee.
“I went to Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham and had a good season in France, but I was just managing my injuries. Playing well sometimes but I wasn’t the same. When I went to America it was like a miracle, living in the sun. [In] hindsight I would have gone abroad… Spain or Italy, and I could have played at the top level for a little bit longer.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I was always a big admirer of Joe Cole, and you have to think his talents would have suited Spurs to the ground back in the day (and still now, in the current system, probably).