Mkhitaryan, Lingard and now Shaw

Originally Posted by Baron

Caught the arse end of that Cole doc as well, I remember a story about Fergie apparently ringing Harry Redknapp fairly regularly & would ask "how's the boy getting on?" - he followed Cole's career all the way through the West Ham youth sides up to senior level. Doubt he ever got close to coming to Utd but it reminds me of how engaged Fergie was in the bigger picture - wonder how many other managers in the game know the youth players at West Ham etc.

Tbf, Cole had a considerable rep well before his debut. If a top clubs scouting network didn't know of him, they weren't doing a good job

Originally Posted by Coracao

Tbf, Cole had a considerable rep well before his debut. If a top clubs scouting network didn't know of him, they weren't doing a good job

Fergie was early though... & a dodgy £#%&!er

"Alex Ferguson was getting in touch with the [Cole] family, getting him on the coach to Wembley for a cup final [1994 FA Cup], giving him a shirt - Cole No.10. 'This is your shirt when you play for Man United'.

"But his dad, George, he was a good lad but you didn't mess with him. He was quite a hard character. He'd come to me and say 'He's going to Man United for two weeks'."
Redknapp admitted there was a temptation to report Ferguson for tapping up Cole. However, he felt the best course of action was to convince the player's father that West Ham was the ideal environment for his son to advance in the game.

Cole stuck around with West Ham and made his Premier League debut against Manchester United in January 1999. Roy Keane shadowed him the moment he came on, as a substitute, and rarely gave him a kick [of the ball].