Hammers lay down the gauntlet to former striker yet again.
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West Ham United have reiterated their stance on Carlton Cole by telling him that he must prove his fitness to them if he wants to earn a new deal, Sky Sports reports.
The 29-year-old was released by the club at the end of last season but has spent the summer training with them until he found a new home somewhere else.
However, despite being continually linked elsewhere he is still without a club and manager Sam Allardyce had expressed a desire to hand him a new deal as he looks to add more firepower to the squad following Andy Carroll’s extended spell on the sidelines.
Attempts to bring the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Nicklas Bendtner into the club failed on transfer deadline day, meaning free agents are now the only available option.
But Cole has been told that he is not yet fit enough to warrant fresh terms and has been told again that he needs to prove his worth in order to land a new deal.
Allardyce said in the Daily Star: “He’s training with us at the moment and hopefully when Carlton gets fit enough to be part of the squad then we’ll talk to him about the contract situation.
“We still have one place available in our squad, with 24 players currently named, so we still have one place left for somebody.
“We have George McCartney back training with us, Joe Cole and Stewart Downing are very close to re-joining the team and after the Everton match they will probably be back in full training.
“If Carlton proves that he can be the player we all know he’s capable of being, then hopefully he’ll join us as well.”