Carlton Cole Bio Send To Friend  

Once tipped as the next big thing as a youth at Chelsea, Cole began to realise his potential at West Ham and was rewarded with his first senior England call up and cap in February 2009 for a friendly against Spain.

A pacy, strong player with the ability to get past defenders, Cole arrived on the scene with Chelsea towards the end of the 2001-02 season. He made his debut in the 3-0 home win over Everton at the start of April before injuries earned him a first start in the trip to Middlesbrough two weeks later.

Towards the end of November 2002 he was forced to go out on loan to First Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers to get first team football. Cole scored once in seven appearances before returning to Chelsea.

Just when it looked as though he would make the breakthrough at the Bridge, Roman Abramovich arrived with his millions and that led to to Cole going out on loan again, but this time he stayed in the Premiership with Charlton.

His first Charlton goal came with a winner against Tottenham over Christmas, and he went on to score only four goals in 2003-04. It was a disappointing return yet the Addicks wanted him for a second season - only for him to opt to sign for Aston Villa on a season-long loan.

Cole had a fantastic debut for Villa, scoring the second in a 2-0 home win over Southampton and causing no end of problems. He followed that performance up with two goals in the England Under-21s victory over Ukraine a few days later.

The rest of his stay at Villa was not so fruitful, scoring only three Premiership goals in 27 appearances for the club. And on returning to Chelsea he found himself down the pecking order and scraping around for appearances and he decided to swap Stamford Bridge for Upton Park in the summer of 2006.

Cole scored just 24 seconds into his debut against old club Charlton on the opening day of the 2006-07 season, but initially failed to hold down a regular spot in the first team. He started only five games in his first season with the club and was a peripheral figure in the squad. Although he enjoyed more game time in 2007-08 that was partly due to injuries to players such as Craig Bellamy.

It was the 2008-09 season, however, that saw Cole finally come of age. His form earned him a new five-year contract, which he signed in November 2008, before England head coach Fabio Capello handed him a senior international debut in the friendly defeat in Spain.