Some Premier League teams – mentioning no names – have tons of former players as pundits, who pretty unashamedly back them when they’re on duty.
Chelsea haven’t had many, and historically when they’re been wheeled out for a big game here or there, they haven’t been too impressive.
On that count, Joe Cole is a breath of fresh air. The former Blue doesn’t hide his allegiance to his old club, but he also genuinely provides interesting and insightful commentary, even when commenting on non-Chelsea games.
Other fans – even fans of rival teams, begrudgingly admit he’s got a nice mix of tactical knowledge, a great enthusiasm for the game, plus a cheeky cockney twinkle.
This week, he had an interview with Yung Filly (a Youtube star), where he was really allowed to let his blue flag fly high. All the questions were about Chelsea, and we got plenty of interesting answers out of the former winger.
We were particularly taken with his answers about Romelu Lukaku. The striker made a bright start to his return to Stamford Bridge, but has since struggled.
To add insult to injury (or should that be the other way round?), he’s now picked up an ankle sprain that will keep him out for a few weeks.
When Filly asked Cole whether Lukaku was the best striker in Europe, Cole just couldn’t bring himself to say yes, despite his Chelsea affiliations. He admitted it was a hard question, and pointed to all of the amazing strikers playing around the continent at the moment.
Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane…. Cole namechecked them all. “So much talent,” he mused.
“[Lukaku] is unique, and for the way that Chelsea play, he’s the best striker for the system.
That is a typically diplomatic and clever answer, but read between the lines and we all know that ultimately, it’s a “no”. There is no shame in that – even cracking the top 10 is a career achievement that your great, great grandchildren would be proud of.
There is a lot of this season still to be played however, and plenty of time for the former Inter man to recover from his injury and return to the kind of incredible form that earned him his second move back to Stamford Bridge in the first place.
Joe Cole was talking as he participated in the first episode of the second series of Hotels.com’s Dream Island. The series will showcase Hotels.com’s role as the Official Travel Partner of the UEFA Champions League and will see presenter Yung Filly grill UEFA legends on their fantasy get-away. Fans will enjoy hearing about where the former players’ dream holidays would be, what they never forget to take with them and who would make up their dream beach football team, as well as answering fans’ travel questions along the way. To watch Dream Island, visit Hotels.com Europe on YouTube: YouTube.com/hotelseu
