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West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has revealed his relief at holding onto striker Carlton Cole during the latter stages of the summer transfer window.
The former Chelsea man was subject to a late bid from Turkish club Galatasaray after they took advantage to their transfer window being open 24 hours later than the one in England.
Cole then expressed an interest in making the move happen, although West Ham were not willing to sell and Allardyce was unhappy with the way the deal came about.
The Hammers boss doesn’t believe teams from other countries should be able to sign English players when the Premier League transfer window has closer.
Allardyce – who was in Spain when the bid from the Turkish club was received – said: “Certainly when I finished the window and had signed Henri Lansbury, David Bentley and I was absolutely delighted.”
“I was sitting in Spain, sipping a glass of sangria, thinking, ‘well, I might enjoy a paella’ then ping, ring, ring, ping, email, call, email, call and 48 hours of sheer hell really just fighting off the fact that the Galatasaray bid was not something that we should do.”
“I don’t want to detract too much from the result we’ve had against Portsmouth because Carlton Cole’s played a major part in that, but this ridiculous opportunity for other countries to be allowed an extra few days is beyond belief for me.”
Allardyce was referring to West Ham’s 4-3 win over Portsmouth at the weekend. During a thrilling match, goals from Matt Taylor, Henri Lansbury, Kevin Nolan and Cole secured three points for the recently relegated club.
They now sit 4th in the Championship table after six games, with four wins, two draws and a defeat so far. The Hammers have also scored 15 goals already, including eight in the last two games.
As for Cole, he has found the back of the net four times this year so you can see why Allardyce was keen to hold onto him as they aim to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
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If West Ham are to bounce back to the Premieship they have to keep players like Carlton Cole. They’ve already lost Scott Parker to Spurs.