Joe Cole is set to sign a lucrative £115,000-a-week deal with Arsenal once he returns from World Cup duty with England. The media has speculated for two weeks that the former Chelsea midfielder, released by the club after failing to sign a new contract, would make a move to a Premier League side and we were in the frame along with Manchester United and you know who.
But thanks to our sources here at Arsenalinsider, we can reveal that Cole, 28, has only to put pen to paper to sign on a free and agree a four-year package worth more than £4m a season in wages, while picking up more than £2m a year on top of the bumper wages.
Cole suffered a serious injury last season and when he returned from the treatment bench he hardly figured in Carlo Ancelotti’s sides at Stamford Bridge. So it was hardly surprising that Chelsea wouldn’t stretch to Cole’s wage demands after he sought similar packages to the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry.
Cole’s last contract was for around £80,000 a week but, having played a key part in teams who have won seven trophies over the past six seasons, he had hoped to move into the elite bracket of Chelsea earners at beyond £100,000 a week.
With the future of captain Cesc Fabregas in the balance, Cole could be seen as a replacement advanced midfielder in support of a central striker.
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