Cole the 'young lion' out to roar for Chelsea

Faces to Follow in 2003: Teenage striker is determined to make mark in top flight after rewarding loan spell at Wolves

It could have been Carlton Cole's face splashed across all the newspapers last Monday morning. It could have been Carlton Cole who scored the winning goal to knock Newcastle United out of the FA Cup.

Instead his place in the Wolverhampton Wanderers team was taken by his friend George Ndah – who scored that goal – after Cole was suddenly recalled by Chelsea from a loan spell with the struggling First Division giants.

And, instead, Cole found himself not even making the bench – that spot was taken by one Gianfranco Zola – as Chelsea overcame Middlesbrough to progress to the fourth round.

"I was envious," says Cole. "I could have been playing in that game [for Wolves] but things did not work out that way."

Not that it should matter much to the young striker. His time will come. But it has been a weird few weeks for Cole, who was farmed out to Wolves just as their season took a nosedive – and just as Chelsea's started to take fire. "I could not help thinking to myself that I could be there [at Chelsea]," he says. "It is good to be back now. I wanted to be back with the big boys."

Not that he did not enjoy himself at Wolves – "a massive club," he says – where he was helped greatly by the manager Dave Jones, the captain Paul Ince and Ndah, in particular.

Aged 19, Cole has been with Chelsea for six years after being picked up – despite the attention of Brentford, where he was on trial – from the Stamford Bridge youth academy. He has already had his name splashed across the back pages, with the tabloids unable to resist "Red Hot Cole" headlines following his dramatic intervention on the opening day of the season. At least he was not "Goal King Cole".

Back in August, the young striker came on as a late substitute with Chelsea struggling against 10-man Charlton Athletic. He duly scored, and then set up the winning goal for Frank Lampard.

As Cole readied himself for action at The Valley, his manager Claudio Ranieri pulled him to one side and, in that engagingly fresh turn of phrase he so often finds, told him: "Show me you are a lion".

It is a description which has stuck to Cole, although his physique is more long-legged and gangling. Indeed, his manager used it again when allowing him to go on loan to gain experience – Cole has Zola, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen ahead of him in the Stamford Bridge pecking order. "He is my young lion," Ranieri said. "But he is still a baby."

A 6ft 3in baby, nevertheless, and one who scored 38 goals last season in the reserve and youth teams and who struck just 38 minutes into his first-team debut against Middlesbrough last year.

Indeed, with the knack of a top striker, Cole has a habit of making an impact and also scored on his full debut for Wolves – a 1-0 win against Norwich City after a 20-minute cameo in which he stood up to a physical buffeting at Rotherham United. "That was some game", he says. "Fast and furious and very hard. I was knackered afterwards!"

Such ability has helped breed a confidence in Cole, who has played for England's Under-20 side, which some have interpreted as cockiness. He has previously spoken of his frustration at watching Wayne Rooney grab all the attention this season and there were suggestions – quashed by Chelsea – that he was sent out on loan as a punishment for turning up late for a reserve match.

"I enjoyed my time at Wolves and it was a very good experience. I scored in my first full game, but unfortunately I did not get any others after that," Cole says.

Now he has been told by Ranieri that he is "still the striker he wants". "He has told me it is the same routine", explained Cole. "I am going to be patient because it will be hard to break into the team."

He says he is not frustrated but wants "to get a few games in the first team and score some more goals before the end of the season" and hopes to get a run out tomorrow. Cole was, after all, tipped last summer by his team-mate Mario Melchiot as a star of the side this term and has still managed three goals in four appearances. To be fair to Chelsea, they do have a history of allowing their most promising players to go out on loan to gain vital experience. Three years ago John Terry went to Nottingham Forest only to return and become the club's player of the year.

This time it was Wolves who benefited. Their manager – with only a hint of exaggeration – suggests that his was the 50th enquiry Chelsea had received this season as to whether Cole was available.

Jones had hoped to land Les Ferdinand but the delight with which he described the teenager speaks volumes about Cole, who was chaperoned by his uncle Duncan King, once on Tottenham's books, during his time at Molineux. "He has all the qualities to go and be a big star in the Premiership," Jones said.

"He's got strength, power, speed and a good heading technique. There is a certain rawness about him and sometimes you have to close your eyes to his mistakes but he will learn."

Jones believes the loan, which Wolves had expected to extend into a second month, will serve him well: "He has found it different, because although he has been training with quality players at Chelsea he has only played a handful of games."

And, in a struggling team, he shone at times – as he did in the bruising draw away at Millwall, where he came up against Dennis Wise, the former Chelsea captain and a man whose boots he used to clean. At least they were several sizes smaller than his own.

Cole, from Chiswick, west London, is now back at Stamford Bridge and hoping to establish himself as the club's first British centre-forward since – well, who? Mark Hughes?

The last word goes to Ranieri. "I believe in Carlton and he is one of the players who are the future of Chelsea," he said. It is just a question of how long he wants to keep his young lion caged.