Cole

League One Coventry to sign ex-England player on loan

Emergency loans tend to involve teams lower down raining teams higher up the ladder for ‘young talent’ or ‘interesting prospects’; not so with Coventry City. The League One club are to announce the signing of a Premier League midfielder with 56 England caps.

It seems that for the Sky Blues the sky’s the limit as they have raided Aston Villa for the 35-day services of ex-Chelsea, West Ham and England midfielder Joe Cole. In a move that Blues boss Tony Mowbray says “I’m sure he’ll have a fantastic impact,” Cole will watch his new team on Saturday against struggling Blackpool, before signing the short-term deal on Monday, as announced on Coventry’s official website. This means that the 33-year old will be available for selection in the following day’s game against Rochdale, deep in the darkest industrial heartland of Lancashire.

Cole’s footballing pedigree is beyond reproach. Aside from the 56 England caps, the last one in 2010 (along with 10 international goals), the midfielder has: appeared in two World Cups (2006 and 2010), played in the English Premier League for West Ham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa as well as Ligue 1 with Lille. He has also tasted European competition along the way in his roller-coaster footballing ride and his performances and glowing reputation in 2010 led then-Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to say, “Messi can do some amazing things, but anything he can do Joe can do as well, if not better.” With such glowing words from 2010, what will the fans at the Ricoh be expecting from the 2015 vintage Cole?

Harking back to Cole’s obvious footballing prowess, Coventry boss, Tony Mowbray has to stop himself almost from waxing lyrically about the new signing. Mowbray said, “I’m delighted to welcome such a high-calibre player to the club. “Joe has a great pedigree, both on the domestic and international stage, and I’m sure he’ll have a fantastic impact during his time at the club,” whilst also citing the options that he will bring to fifth-placed Coventry as the Sky Blues look to build on a good start to the season. If melting Mowbray was only just curbed, the same cannot be said for Coventry’s official Twitter account where the simpering was set to DefCon 5 level (below)

Forget the saying about carrying coals to Newcastle, it’s the taking of Cole to Coventry that is grabbing the headlines tonight.

Featured image: BBC Twitter

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