King Cole keeps faith in Torres
Torres continues his search for his debut Blues’ goal as Carlo Ancelotti’s faltering side returns to action in tonight’s Champions League round of 16, first leg at FC Copenhagen following Saturday’s FA Cup exit to Everton.
Though harbouring no doubt about Torres coming good, Cole, a record transfer himself when joining Manchester United from Newcastle United for £7m in 1995, is surprised with the slide of last season’s double winners.
“It’s the going rate,” said Cole of the massive £50m (€59.3m) fee for Torres. “(But) the British media questioning Torres already is just laughable. When he was at Liverpool scoring goals, people didn’t question him. Now, all of a sudden, he’s a waste of money having gone to Chelsea for £50m. That’s the media. But it’s inevitable he’ll get goals for Chelsea.”
Cole knows all about the psychology of a player who has moved for such a massive fee.
“It’s going to affect you,” said the now 39-year-old member of Manchester United’s treble-winning side of 1999. “He made his debut against Liverpool which will affect you. He’s £50m and Chelsea play a totally different way to Liverpool. That’s three factors to deal with immediately.
“If he doesn’t hit the ground running and get two hat-tricks in his first three games, £50m all of a sudden isn’t a waste of money! He’s a top player and no doubt he’ll prove that.”
Whatever about Torres’ early difficulties in settling in at the Bridge, Cole is far more taken aback at Chelsea’s mid-season slump.
“Yeah, because they have relinquished their Premiership crown very easily. They got knocked out of the FA Cup and only have the European Cup to go for. It’s a surprise because they started the season on fire and were running away with it.
“But after losing Ray Wilkins, it’s just gone from bad to worse for them. Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, (Roman) Abramovich will probably have a big spend up in the summer. He spent £70m (€83m) in the transfer window so you’d expect him to spend a bit more in the summer.”
No such problems for Cole’s most famous former club, Manchester United, who have a comfortable lead at the top of the Premier League table, despite the premise that it’s not considered a vintage United side.
“United’s season is going well, so far. And whatever people say about the team and that it’s not their best team for 100 years, to be four points clear at the top of the Premier League, quarter-finals of the FA Cup and knockout stages of the European Cup, then it’s going okay at the moment. I know there is a long way to go but they are doing okay.
“Yes, for sure,” agreed Cole that beating non-league Crawley Town just 1-0 highlighted a lack of strength in depth, “most people were expecting United to beat Crawley 10-0.
“You could turn round and say that United are lacking in depth, but you just don’t know. The manager’s first team squad is strong enough to be in the position that they are now. Football is transitional and Manchester United are in a transitional period.
“Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are coming to the end of their careers and it’s a question of how they are going to replace these players. You won’t just pick up those players tomorrow, players who will play on until they are 36 or 37.”
Those aforementioned elder statesmen of Old Trafford astound Cole, who left United in 2001 and has now been retired for over two years.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Cole of Giggs, who signed a new one-year contract extension last week. “I speak about him and Scholesy glowingly because I played with them.
“I watch them now basically week-in week-out still doing the same things they did when I was playing there 10 years ago.”
And what of manager Alex Ferguson, another constant at United who can’t stop achieving? Fergie will go on for “as long as he wants to” believes Cole.
“The hardest thing is who are you going to find to replace him? If he’s got the desire, which he has, to keep going, he’ll want to win as many championships as he can to put Liverpool out of sight. I can see him going on for another few years yet. He’s got great belief and still wants to achieve.
“The club has won 18 league championships and he wants to get 19 to beat Liverpool’s record. And he’s not going to stop at 19.
“If they win it this year they’ve got 19 and he’s going to want to run out a statistic like Liverpool did in their time. That’s a big factor.”
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