SECOND AGAIN
How Joe Cole became Jose’s Wayne Rooney
JOE COLE was 24 last month but he has stopped wondering what happened to the years in which he was supposed to blossom into the new Diego Maradona. He has not exactly wasted his time since signing his first £1million boot deal as a 16-year- old. It is just that his development has been stuck in bottom gear. Indeed, some would say it has been in reverse.
STEVE CURRY reports on the coming of age of a Chelsea hero who looks set to ensure that England fans will have more than one superstar to cheer in the World Cup Finals
Cole had so much attention as a teenager that he can identify only too well with the hype that now follows Rooney. Gratefully there is no envy, only a n a p p r e c i a t i o n o f a talent shared.
‘ My rise has not been as explosive as Wayne’s,’ said Cole. ‘ I played for England when I was 19 and captained West Ham when I was 21 but my career has developed in stages. It is almost as a normal player would develop.’
There have been several phases to his career. There were, famously, 12 Premiership sides in touch with his then West Ham manager Harry Redknapp. He was feted by some of them, not least Manchester United, who gave him the full ‘come and join us’ treatment.
Yet even at West Ham, his career stagnated as he wrestled to discover his true identity, conscious of all the expectation and not quite delivering. It was not burn- out but it was not barnstorming, either.
The disciplines that make the difference between a good club player and a top international w e r e m i s s i n g make-up. He wanted the freedom of expression afforded to only a few at the highest level, players such as Thierry Henry or Ronaldhino. England could not afford to give it to him.
Ci n C o l e ’ s
H E L S E A p a i d
£ 6.6million for him in
Au g u s t 2 0 0 3 a n d
Mourinho, who arrived 10 months later, has steadfastly believed in him and has succeeded in changing his attitude.
If you want to play regularly you must adapt your game, he insisted when Cole felt he should be playing centrally and dictating the play.
Do it my way or move on was the continuing theme, and when Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 at Highbury on Sunday we saw serious evidence that he has taken heed of His Master’s Voice and knows that at last he is fulfilling his amazing potential.
Cole finds that gratifying. He has been used to headlines — front page and back — since he was 15 and he knew the time to justify them was in danger of passing him by.
He will not mind that he will start the World Cup as the leftsided midfield player, the position that has bugged Sven Goran Eriksson since he took over England in February 2001. He would like to be in the No 10 position, central and bursting through to make runs into the penalty area. We know it is a role he is good enough to fill — even if his finishing is not quite in the Rooney class.
Cole has scored seven times this season, including one for England and one in the Champions League. While that is five fewer than Rooney, the comparison is reasonable.
The joy of playing football, so evident in Cole as a teenager, has once again surfaced. We have seen it before in Paul Gascoigne and you can see it with Rooney. It is a special gift, which allows him to improvise and us to eulogise.
Cole is giving us all a new sense of anticipation about the England side, the final solution to a problem that has nagged like toothache. And for that, as for the d e v e l o p m e n t o f F r a n k Lampard and John Terry, we should give thanks to The Special One.
s.curry@dailymail.co.uk