Thompson: Cole signing is "start of a new era" at Liverpool
Published 23:00 19/07/10 By David Maddock
As signings go, Joe Cole could register on the Anfield Richter scale alongside some of the most famous transfers in Liverpool’s history.
If that sounds overly dramatic, then listen to former skipper and assistant boss Phil Thompson, who served the club for more than 30 years.
He said: “It’s the start of a new era, we’ll be looking for more players and Joe’s signing will help attract them and it could be a glorious summer for the fans.
“We need his type of player, that catalyst between midfield and attack, and it all adds up to me. I think the new manager will have been telling Torres and Gerrard he’d got a chance of signing Joe, and by doing it, will tell them all is not lost.”
The fans, as Thompson predicted, will be delighted, because to sign a top England player when there is competition from teams in the Champions’ League is a real statement of intent.
A message to the supporters upset by the events of the summer and the depressing ownership of Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett, but a message to the two key players in Roy Hodgson’s squad too.
They have been quietly watching and waiting to see if there was any chance of Liverpool trying to reclaim former glories by pursuing the sort of signings to make that possible.
Now the message to Torres and Gerrard is clear – this is no sinking ship and something is being done to support new manager Roy Hodgson in his attempts to turn around the club.
As Ian Rush, another Anfield legend still closely connected to the club, explained, such a high-profile capture against stiff competition is important as much for its implications as in strengthening the squad.
He said: “I think it’s a fantastic buy – it sends a sign out to Liverpool supporters that the club do mean business.
“Liverpool, for me, is the biggest club in the world. We might not have been successful as we would have liked recently, but this shows we can still attract top-name players, whether it’s an England international or a foreign international.
‘We’ve got a great coach and a new manager in Roy Hodgson and he knows what he wants and he can talk these players into signing for our club.
“This is the signing supporters wanted and it’s a big boost for them.”
The fact that Liverpool face a Europa League tie against opponents from either Macedonia or Armenia must have seemed a huge hurdle to Liverpool landing a player of Cole’s standing.
But he has spoken at length with skipper Gerrard and concluded that one season outside the Champions’ League can be tolerated given the potential their squad will boast.
Not only would he clearly not have signed if he thought Gerrard and Torres woere going, Cole’s arrival will also go a long way towards persuading them to stay.
As Thompson suggests, he will not be the last Anfield capture of the summer, and with money to spend if – as now seems certain – Javier Mascherano leaves, Liverpool’s squad could be much stronger than most people imagined earlier this summer.
Cole’s signing has been partly financed by the sale of Yossi Benayoun to Chelsea, but with Mascherano likely to raise around £30million, there could be two further high-profile captures.
Hodgson needs a left back and could move this week for Wigan’s Manyor Figueroa and he will also require a defensive midfielder to replace the Argentine, with Lyon’s Jeremy Toulalan high on his list.
He hopes to sign another star name like Cole, especially now a financial crisis in Spanish football caused by the collapse of a TV deal means there are fewer suitors.
Cole can play wide or behind a striker, as can Liverpool’s forgotten, summer signing Milan Jovanovic, which, along with the presence of Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez means Liverpool have cover in those positions, allowing them to sell Ryan Babel and Albert Riera, swelling the coffers further.
In one fell swoop then, Hodgson has not only landed one of the biggest signings in English football this summer, he has also transformed morale around the club and taken a massive step towards retaining Gerrard and Torres, who will be key to future glory.
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