Chelsea agree fee for Cole
Big-spending Chelsea have agreed a fee of 6.6 million pounds ( $10.63 million) to take West Ham United´s England midfielder Joe Cole to Stamford Bridge, the cash-strapped east London club said on Tuesday. Cole´s arrival, which is subject to agreement on personal terms and a medical, would take Chelsea´s spending to almost 44 million pounds since the club was taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich last month.
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But the spending spree -- which has seen midfielders Damien Duff and Geremi, defenders Glen Johnson and Wayne Bridge and goalkeeper Marco Ambrosio join manager Claudio Ranieri´s Russian revolution -- is unlikely to be over yet.
The west London club, who finished fourth last season to earn a Champions League qualifying berth, are still being linked in the British media with a 15 million pounds deal to sign Manchester United´s Argentina midfielder Juan Sebastien Veron.
Chelsea need to complete the signing of Cole by Thursday´s UEFA deadline for him to be eligible for their Champions League third round qualifying matches against Zilina of Slovakia or Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel later this month.
The transfer of the 22-year-old, who progressed through the youth ranks at Upton Park and broke into the first team squad in February 2001, was inevitable once West Ham were told he would not extend his contract, which has a year to run.
" ...it was made clear that Joe would not consider extending his contract past its expiry at the end of the coming season, believing his international career would be enhanced by regular European club competition experience," West Ham said in a statement on its official website.
CORRECT DECISION
West Ham would have received compensation if Cole -- capped 10 times by England -- had left the club at the end of the coming season in which they will be fighting to regain the premier league status they lost in the last campaign because he would still be under 23.
" However, this figure would have been below 500,000 pounds had he gone to a foreign club, possibly higher to an English club but, with no guarantee of the figure which might be obtained, the board felt that the decision to accept a significant offer now was the correct one," said West Ham.
West Ham have already brought in 12.5 million pounds in transfer fees from the sale of French striker Frederic Kanoute, England midfielder Trevor Sinclair and right back Glen Johnson, who moved to Chelsea for six million pounds last month.
West Ham were widely thought to be too good to go down last season but though they rallied after a poor start the team still finished 18th in the 20-team league. That led to concerns among fans that they would have to sell their best players.
But they still have promising England midfielder Michael Carrick and striker Jermain Defoe and the board stressed that Cole´s departure has eased the pressure on their finances.
" This transfer now ensures that no further sales will be necessary following the financial implications of relegation and that all future offers will be decided by the manager on a team selection basis rather than by the board on a financial one.
" The priority now will be bringing players in to strengthen the squad ahead of the forthcoming season."
The agreement with Chelsea on a fee for Cole followed 18 months of what West Ham described as " very amicable discussions between Joe, the club, his father and his agents... Everyone at the club is extremely sorry to see Joe leave Upton Park but wish him the very best of luck at his new club."
Cole joins former West Ham team mates Frank Lampard and Johnson at Stamford Bridge, where he will hope to impress England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and play a part in the bid to reach the European championship in Portugal next year.
