Early return to Upton Park for unwanted striker.
Check in to Southampton vs West Ham United
West Ham United are set to bring striker Carlton Cole just two months after he was originally released by the club, the Daily Mail reports.
The 29-year-old was free to walk away from the club at the start of the summer after failing to agree to a new deal. Interest in his signature was popular and he subsequently held talks with a number of other teams such as Hull City, Crystal Palace, St Etienne and Turkish clubs Kasimpasa and Karabukspor.
However, after a deal to take him to any of the aforementioned clubs failed to materialise, he has now returned to Upton Park where he had a medical on Tuesday and now Sam Allardyce will be hoping to wrap up his signature before the weekend.
Allardyce has originally been thought to be keen on sorting out a loan deal for Chelsea striker Demba Ba, which failed, and he was offered a number of short term deals from Italy, but finances for those loans couldn’t be put into place as Ricardo Vaz Te’s move to Norwich City fell through.
West Ham said in a statement: ‘Despite the board and manager deciding to do their business early on in the window to avoid last-minute panic buys – resulting in the successful signings of Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Razvan Rat and Adrian – joint-chairman David Sullivan and manager Sam Allardyce did spend all night on Monday trying to sign one of three international strikers, but all opted for the lure of European football instead.
‘Importantly, the board also turned down bids for several first-team players in the last week of the window as they are determined to give the squad the best chance possible of bettering last season’s tenth-placed Premier League finish.
‘The club are pleased to announce that popular striker Carlton Cole is also undergoing a medical today with a view to returning to the Boleyn Ground on a short-term deal.’
Cole is able to sign on in September as he is a free agent.