Cole heads for Chelsea exit with early promise left unfulfilled

Midfielder's likely swansong was typically a peripheral one, writes Glenn Moore

(ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/GETTYIMAGES)

It was not just Portsmouth players in a poignant mood as they signed off with a valedictory lap of honour at Wembley on Saturday. Joe Cole is out of contract and negotiations towards a new deal are yet to bear fruit.

The boyhood Chelsea fan has had a patchy season. Having suffered a knee injury in January last year, he did not start again until September and has subsequently been overshadowed by Salomon Kalou. He did score a crucial goal at Manchester United, but only got one other all season. Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, needing to trim his wage bill to bring in fresh blood, is inevitably wondering whether Cole is expendable.

Cole was given 19 minutes off the bench on Saturday. He might have scored with his first touch, but it was blocked. Thereafter, he had a few nice touches, but was largely peripheral.

That has too often been the way with Cole. As a teenager at West Ham he was hailed as a rare talent, one who would light up the English game for years, a player to build the national team around. It is a lot for anyone to live up to and, at 28, it looks as if he will never fulfil those early hopes.

He has won 53 caps, the same as another technically brilliant footballer, Glenn Hoddle. There is another similarity. Hoddle did not impose himself on England games as often as his ability suggested he could and neither does Cole. Think of the reliable game-changers in the current England team and Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and, to an extent, Frank Lampard come to mind. Cole is in the cameo cast with Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon.

In Hoddle's time, the culture of English football took the blame as much as the player. Preferring perspiration to inspiration, Hoddle was part of a long line of misused players: Stan Bowles, Tony Currie, Alan Hudson, Rodney Marsh, Charlie George and Matt Le Tissier won 42 caps between them.

The modern game, however, has a Continental accent – even the national team. Both Fabio Capello and Ancelotti are pragmatists rather than romantics, but at times they have selected the likes of Dejan Savicevic and Rui Costa in the No 10 role Cole favours. This, though, does not seem an option for Cole with club or country; instead the flank is where he has most often been selected, and it is always harder for a wide player to dictate a match. Maybe he needs a move, maybe he just needs to a long run of full fitness. His two best recent seasons, 2005-06, and 2007-08, have been injury-free.

Cole has stressed the silver lining to his knee injury, his freshness, may win him a World Cup place. He leaves for England's training camp in Austria today with his only comment on the future: "My focus is getting on the plane to South Africa and winning the World Cup and that's what I'm going to do." Many will wish him success.