Are Joe Cole Rumours a Concern for Chelsea?

We’ve had rumours about possible moves for Joe Cole before, notably Villa and Liverpool in the summer although fortunately they were no more than that. But somehow the latest rumours worry me a little more.

This time, it’s Spurs with an interest in Joe Cole, and that bothers me for a few reasons.

Firstly there’s the Redknapp thing. Harry Redknapp is more than a little keen on Cole and they know each other well what with it being Redknapp who gave Cole his debut at West Ham. Then there’s the fact that Cole would be valued highly by his former boss—something he’s always had to fight for at Chelsea.

Add to that the fact that Redknapp knows that come the summer, Joe Cole will have just a year left on his contract thanks to Chelsea’s delay in holding talks, and these reports aren’t weighing heavily in Chelsea’s favour.

Not only that, but with Cole apparently only being on around £70,000 a week at Chelsea—hardly an amount comparable with the big earners around him—he could even get a pay rise into the bargain.

And here’s what a Spurs source has to say about the whole thing “Harry loves the way Joe plays and can’t believe Chelsea are running the risk of losing him. It is behind the striker where Harry sees him for Spurs — given a licence to thrill.”

I know Cole has previously said he was happy for the talks to be put on hold because his priority was playing for Chelsea but I can’t help hoping the club get their act together over a contract just in case.