English football's lost soul - Joe Cole

[Folami David]

Joe Cole's return to his roots in West Ham United is his latest bid to revive his almost-dead career which started ever since he left Chelsea FC for Liverpool in 2010.
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One of his generation's stand out-players, Cole has been a household name in England for the best part of a decade but as he  returns to Upton Park after a 10 year absence, there is a feeling that his talent remains unfuflled.
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A skillful and innovative dribbler once likened to Paul Gascoigne, Cole is an untypical British Player and has occasionally lamented having being born in a country that prizes blood and thunder over more celebral qualities.
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'' Sometimes I feel if i'd been born in a Latin country. I may have been coached better to play as a number 10 '' he once said.
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As a teenager, Cole inspired West Ham's 9-0 rout of Coventry City in the 1999 FA Youth Cup Final and was quickly drafted into the senior team alongside fellow youth-team graduates Frank Lampard, Micheal Carrick and Jeremain Defoe.
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Though Cole was raised in North London, Redknapp has described him as ''West Ham through and through'' , and at Upton Park, at least, they will welcome him with open arms.