By Chris Wright
Joe’s forever blowing bubbles
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has urged free-agent Joe Cole to prioritise his footballing ambitions and put his financial demands on the back-burner for the time being.
The exorbitant £120,000-a-week wage demands that saw Cole being allowed to walk out of Chelsea this summer have already put off Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool, and Redknapp now believes it’s time for the England winger to consider a fiscal compromise in order to get his career back on track at Spurs;
“I managed Joe before, and I signed him when he was 11. I know what makes Joe tick and it’s his love of the game, and his need to be playing it.
That is what I am offering him. I have spoken with Joe at length and I would like him, and, when we talked, he appreciated my view that Tottenham is now a club going places.
“I would like Joe here with me, but it is now up to the club and up to Joe, his agent and his dad, and our chairman. He is talking to them to try to do a deal.
If it is beyond us in financial terms I can appreciate that but I am hoping other factors will come into play to make up Joe’s mind.”
More subtle stuff from ‘Arry.
Joe Cole will be a Tottenham player by the end of August – FACT.