In the late 1990s and early 2000s, West Ham United had one of the best academies in world football.
Indeed, West Ham were producing talent after talent at that time as the likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick all cut their teeth under Harry Redknapp’s tutelage.
However, according to Jermain Defoe, speaking on Open Goal, there was a young player at West Ham around that time who was even better than the rest.
Defoe claims that Joe Cole was the best of that incredible crop of players, noting that the midfielder was unbelievable on the ball around that time.
Joe Cole in action for West Ham United
Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images
Joe Cole was better than Frank Lampard at West Ham
Defoe was asked which of these incredible young talents was the best player.
Frank Lampard was brilliant at West Ham, while Michael Carrick was a very underrated player throughout his career.
However, according to Defoe, Cole was the top dog at West Ham around that time.
“I need to ask you there, you said, Lampard, Carrick, Cole, Ferdinand, who was the best?” Defoe was asked.
“Joe, even to this day I see young players and I’ve still never seen anything like Joe. It was weird, he was quicker with the ball than without it. It was so weird. I used to say ‘wow, this is the level.’ The stuff he was doing back then I’ve still never seen it, he was unbelievable,” Defoe said.
What Harry Redknapp said about Joe Cole
Joe Cole would go on to have a solid enough career at Chelsea, but he never quite fulfilled his massive potential.
Indeed, Jose Mourinho coached Cole into a more functional player whose game was based around workrate rather than technical ability, and that stunted his development somewhat.
However, as a youngster, Cole was a star, so much so that Harry Redknapp thought he could’ve been as good as Lionel Messi.
“Joe could have been Lionel Messi. He was that good. I honestly believe that. But you had to let him play. He had to play like Messi. Go and get the ball Joe, play where you want to play. Get Joe on the ball because he can do magic. He can win the game,” Redknapp said.
Unfortunately, Cole didn’t quite hit the heights of Lionel Messi, but he remains one of the most technically gifted players the Premier League has ever produced.