""Arsenal had first refusal on both myself and Michael Carrick, but Arsene Wenger pulled out of it. Alex Ferguson wanted me again, but he had to wait for Juan Sebastian Veron to join Chelsea. Manchester United said, 'Yes, we want to do it, but we're waiting, we're waiting.' All of a sudden Chelsea came in for me, a bid was accepted.""
""Roman Abramovich had just taken over at Chelsea, and I later found out that when I first signed, they wanted to loan me out to CSKA Moscow. Looking back, they'd signed Geremi from Real Madrid, they'd signed Veron, they'd also signed Damien Duff who'd been one of the best players in the league with Blackburn during the previous season, and Manu Petit was coming back from injury. I was 21 years old, signed as a we'll see what we do with this kid'.""
Joe Cole progressed from West Ham youth into a senior move to Chelsea after interest from Arsenal and Manchester United. Chelsea signed him when Roman Abramovich had just taken over, and the club assembled several high-profile signings. Chelsea considered loaning Cole to CSKA Moscow, but his father rejected the idea and he stayed to fight for a place. In his first season he played around 50 matches, mixing starts and substitute appearances. Cole later won three Premier League titles and two FA Cups with Chelsea.
Read at www.fourfourtwo.com
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