Former West Ham United kids Joe Cole and Michael Carrick can now be added to the seemingly never-ending list of future stars Premier League giants Arsenal would see slip through their fingers in the Arsene Wenger era.
Speaking back in 2021, Wenger admitted that if he could roll back the clock, he would have moved heaven and earth to bring Cristiano Ronaldo and N’Golo Kante to North London.
The legendary Arsenal boss travelled to Kylian Mbappe’s home when the teenager was uncertain of signing a new deal at Monaco. Yaya Toure was another big regret, alongside Zlatan ‘doesn’t do trials’ Ibrahimovic.
In a hypothetical XI of players the Gunners could and maybe should have signed, Michael Carrick can be found patrolling the midfield alongside Kante and Toure.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Carrick, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Jermain Defoe, Rio Ferdinand and Glen Johnson all emerged through West Ham United’s feted academy. No wonder a baby-faced Jimmy Bullard had to leave Upton Park in search of game time.
Together, the six Hammers graduates would go on to win a combined total of 62 trophies – including 19 Premier League titles and three Champions Leagues – alongside 388 England caps.
And while Carrick would help Manchester United dominate English football in the late-2000s, Cole joined not Arsenal but his boyhood club Chelsea in the summer of 2003.
Joe Cole has theory about why Arsenal snubbed he and Michael Carrick at West Ham United
Now, speaking on Mo Gilligan’s Beginning, Middle and End podcast, Cole reveals that not only did Arsenal turn down the chance to sign he and Carrick, but Arsene Wenger also had ‘first refusal’ on the duo.
“West Ham were in financial trouble, so they needed to sell,” Cole says, leaving the Hammers after their relegation in 2003. “They sold me, Glen Johnson and, later on, Carrick and Defoe. It was a balancing the books situation, so I needed to go.
“There were other options [than Chelsea]. Manchester United were talking to my agent. Arsenal, Arsene Wenger had first refusal on me and Michael Carrick!”
Carrick eventually joined Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham one year after Chelsea snapped up Cole.
Reflecting on why the Gunners may have overlooked two future England stalwarts, Cole suggests it may have been down to the remarkable array of star quality plying their trade at Highbury at the time.
“I’ll put an asterisk on it. This wasn’t the Arsenal of 2012 or 2013,” Cole says. “They still had some fantastic players. Edu was still there, Patrick [Vieira] was still there, Gilberto [Silva]. You signed [Juan Antonio] Reyes. [They had Thierry] Henry, [Sylvain] Wiltord, [Robert] Pires, [Freddie] Ljungberg.
“Stacked! And Arsenal were the best team in the country.”
Cole explains how Roman Abramovic transformed Chelsea
Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United missed out twice on Joe Cole.
Once in the 1990s, when he was a budding wonderkid on the verge of a first-team breakthrough under Harry Redknapp. And again in 2003, when the Roman Abramovic revolution transformed Chelsea almost overnight into the place to be.
“Roman came in at Chelsea. They were a good team [before Abramovic arrived]. They finished fourth. But roman came in [and transformed it],” Cole recalls. “Arsenal turned [Carrick and I] down. Manchester United were still sniffing around, and you’re sitting there waiting.
“I’m going back to pre-season at West Ham thinking, ‘right, compartmentalise this. It’s down to the club. If they want me to go, they’ll accept a bid. If they don’t, I’m ready to [keep playing for West Ham]’.
“The bid happened. I get in the motor, drive to Stamford Bridge, negotiate. It took three or four hours. Really quick! I was ready to sign, quick medical, met [manager] Claudio Ranieri.
“As a kid, I supported Chelsea because my pal at school, his dad took us. I always had that fondness for Chelsea. It happened really quick and it just felt, going into the club, that you were in the centre of the football universe.”
West Ham hero loved playing alongside Hernan Crespo and co at Stamford Bridge
Cole would join the Blues for a sum of £6.6 million.
“Roman had come in and it was like Championship Manager when you’ve got the cheat code [and can sign whoever you want]!,” he adds.
“We’re signing Damien Duff, Adrian Mutu, the top scorer in Serie A, [Hernan] Crespo, Argentina’s number nine, [Juan Sebastian] Veron, Argentina’s number ten. It was literally like that. Football was changing and we were at the epicentre of it.
“It was exciting.”
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