50% Villa - Joe Cole at Lille

[Vanilla]

Joe Cole's stats so far at Lille in the league are:

5 games. 1 goal.  3 assists.

Was this a missed opportunity for Villa (considering we were supposed to have approached him at the last minute), or is the more technical football in Ligue 1 more suited to his style of play?

(ignore the first part of the video)

[Risso]

I think Lille's financial state is probably more suited to his bank balance than ours.

[Vanilla]

I think Lille's financial state is probably more suited to his bank balance than ours.

PSG are supposed to be the mega bucks team at the moment, Lille the minnows in that respect.

That said, if our demands were accept £30,000 per week, I can't see why he wouldn't have considered it.

[PaulTheVillan]

£30k a week & move to Brum.

£90k a week & live in France.

[Risso]

I don't think we'd have paid that much to be honest.

[FatSam]

£30k a week & move to Brum.

£90k a week & live in France.

I thought I read at the time that Lille were happy to let him commute from London on the Eurostar - if staying in London was the most important criterion for him, then our new 30 mile radius of Bodymoor Heath rule wouldn't have worked for him.

[Lambert and Payne]

Not bothered, think he's had his day and wouldn't last in the premiership anymore. I doubt we could afford his wages anyhow

[richardhubbard]

A very talented player, but we had no chance of signing him, he apparantly can get direct via Eurostar between Lille and London in an hour and half rather than commuting to Birmingham..

Secondly he can play in the championships league compared to playing Bolton in the cup and loosing

[TopDeck113]

I've seen plenty of overseas signings at other clubs, who - based on their first five starts - look like a missed opportunity.  Then... So let's see what Joe Cole's record is come the end of the season.

As for the Eurostar commute: that was written about in this month's WSC and dismissed as a groundless rumour.

[The Man With A Stick]

I can't imagine him wanting to spend 2.5 hrs on a train every morning.  Just go and live in France for god's sake!  I know I would.

[supertom]

The French league is bobbins. He'll have less running to do and more time and space to look fancy. Actually I do like Joe Cole, he's the most technically gifted English footballer since Gazza IMO. He just would fit into our side. We can't really carry a drifter. He needs to play a free role and drift where he pleases. We're already struggling to get the best out of Ireland because he's similar, but more so with Cole he can't really fit into a regimented position. Ireland when he's on top of his game and up for it, does actually cover a lot of ground, and he's quicker than Joe Cole. Cole is capable of individual brilliance though, but he just wouldn't deliver it enough for us in the Premier League. Good luck to him though. He'll be ace in Masters footy in 7-8 years.

[lichfield lion]

I don't think we missed out really. Bannan is more than ample and more than suited to the premiership now than Cole, as i think Cole would not be able to cope with the pace of the English game now.

[charleeco7]

I'm sure I read that Liverpool still pay about two thirds of his wages. No great loss to us though if you ask me. I think he would have got in the way if Bannans progression.

[Shrek]

He was on Talksport after his move.

He moaned that clubs waited till the last minute to try and sign him, he basically said that he would have interested in staying in the premier league if clubs would have came in 2 weeks earlier.

I also remember hearing Phillipe Auclair saying that the highest paid players in France are on about 70k a week and that Liverpool still pay most of his wages.

[Bad English]

The French league is bobbins.

Why is that?