Cole-to-Cole connection that surprised Liverpool fans
When Liverpool picked up Joe Cole on a free transfer from Chelsea in July 2010, it was sold as a statement signing. A creative England international in his prime, moving from the reigning champions to Anfield, felt like a coup for a club searching for fresh momentum.
It never came close to working out as planned. Across a troubled spell on Merseyside, Joe Cole made just 42 appearances in all competitions, scoring five goals and adding three assists. Injuries, tactical reshuffles and managerial change meant he struggled to establish a clear role. By January 2013 Liverpool had agreed to release him from his contract, effectively paying around £3 million to move him off the wage bill before he returned to West Ham United.
From the outside, that short Liverpool chapter has long been filed under “what might have been”. Yet for Ashley Cole, who shared England and Chelsea dressing rooms with his namesake, the perception is very different.
Ashley Cole hails Joe Cole as “most underrated” partner
Speaking in a quick-fire Q&A for The Overlap’s TikTok channel, Ashley Cole was asked to name the most underrated player he had ever lined up alongside. Without hesitation, he picked Joe Cole – and in doing so reopened an intriguing debate around how Liverpool supporters remember that transfer.
For Ashley Cole, the assessment appears to be rooted in what he saw close up over the peak years of Joe Cole’s career at Chelsea and with England, rather than the truncated spell at Anfield. Technically sharp, elusive in tight areas and capable of deciding big games, Joe Cole was once viewed as one of the most naturally gifted attacking players of his generation.
That version only flickered briefly in a Liverpool shirt. There were glimpses – a sharp finish away to Steaua Bucharest, a well-taken goal at Bolton – but never the sustained influence that had been anticipated when he arrived on a four-year deal. Ashley Cole’s praise, though, is a reminder of the calibre of player Liverpool thought they were signing in 2010.
Mixed Liverpool memories for Joe Cole
From a Liverpool perspective, Joe Cole’s time at Anfield now sits in stark contrast to the era that followed under FSG and Klopp. Recruitment has become more targeted, data-driven and ruthless, producing a squad in which expensive mistakes have been relatively rare.
Joe Cole’s free transfer, by comparison, underlines how different the club’s decision-making once was. Signing a high-profile name from a domestic rival carried a certain glamour, but did not necessarily match the tactical direction or physical demands of the team he was joining. In that context, Ashley Cole describing his former team-mate as the most underrated player he worked with feels like a nod to a talent that Liverpool never truly unlocked.
Yet his time on Merseyside should not be defined solely by frustration. For many younger supporters, Joe Cole’s name is part of the bridge between the late-Rafa Benítez era and the transformative years that followed. Ashley Cole’s verdict may encourage a reappraisal, prompting some to look back at those 42 games with a slightly different lens.
Gerrard, Henry and Rooney in Cole’s personal hierarchy
Ashley Cole’s conversation did not end with his admiration for Joe Cole. Asked to pick the best player he had ever played with, he chose Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry, a reflection of the peak Arsenal years under Arsène Wenger. When the subject turned to the “worst loser”, he named Wayne Rooney, nodding to the competitive edge that underpinned the former Everton and Manchester United forward’s career.
Pressed on which player he would want alongside him in a final, Ashley Cole went back to Liverpool for his answer. He selected Steven Gerrard, a footballer he did not share a Premier League club with, but did link up with for England and later at LA Galaxy. It was a choice that underlined the respect Gerrard still commands among his former international team-mates.
For Liverpool fans, Ashley Cole’s remarks offer a fresh angle on a familiar story. In naming Joe Cole as his most underrated colleague, and Gerrard as the man he would trust most on the biggest stage, he has reconnected two very different chapters in the club’s recent history – one defined by misfires in the market, the other by enduring greatness.
