'Big money': Striker says he was supposed to sign for Arsenal for £20m, but he got injured

03/25/2025 07:15 AM

Arsenal have been searching for a new striker for such a long time.

Indeed, Arsenal have been looking for a new number nine for around two years at this point, and they have been linked to a number of strikers.

Ivan Toney was linked with Arsenal last year, while Arsenal bid for Ollie Watkins in January.

Meanwhile, Alexander Isak is Arsenal's dream target.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time Arsenal have been in this sort of situation.

Indeed, Arsenal struggled to sign a striker for a long time in the late 2000s and mid-2010s in the period between losing Emmanuel Adebayor and signing Olivier Giroud.

Speaking on The Dressing Room Podcast, Carlton Cole has been discussing his career, and he says that, at one point, he was supposed to join Arsenal for £20m, but an injury put a stop to that move.

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Carlton Cole was supposed to sign for Arsenal

Cole spoke about how he almost joined Arsenal at one point.

The striker says that a £20m move to the Emirates was on the cards, but he had a really bad knee injury at West Ham that kyboshed the deal.

Cole was linked with Liverpool at one point too.

"And then coming to that point, it was January, January window was coming up. And I already knew that I might have had to leave West Ham as well," Carlton Cole said.

"Yeah, because Arsenal needed a striker at the time. So who was it? Who was the, Grimandi, remember Grimandi?

"He was like the director of football at the time, I think over there, or the head of recruitment. And he came to watch me that day. And then I’d gone into a 50-50 with the beast, they call him, goalkeeper, Jensen from Burnley.

"The goalkeeper, he was massive. So I’ve got into a 50-50 with him. And then I already had a bad knee already.

"And then I’ve gone into it and he kind of snapped my PCL, but I didn’t know at the time. And then I just thought something go. So basically your knee’s like that.

"That’s your joint goes like that. But when he came into me, obviously it’s like a, they always say you get this injury in a car crash. And then so my knee went back like that."

"And I was supposed to, that January window, Arsenal were about to put in about, I think it was a 20 million pound bid in for me. And 20 million pound was quite big back then, big money, mate. And they needed a striker there and then.

"So he come, I remember I went upstairs, I went into the box and then he come in and he says, oh, how long are you going to be? And I said, I don’t know what I’ve done yet. So I said, I’ll go and get the scan."

Carlton Cole stats after knee injury

Cole picked up a knee injury against Burnley in December 2009, and, up to that point in that season, the striker was on fire.

Indeed, Cole had scored seven goals in 13 league appearances up to that point for West Ham, hence why Arsenal were interested.

However, after Cole's injury, his form dropped off a cliff, and it's fair to say that Arsenal made the right decision in holding fire on this move.

Cole would go on to score just three goals in 17 league games after his return from injury, while he would score just five in 35 the following season too.

Cole's knee injury didn't keep him out of action for months, but it did halt his momentum and affect his body in a way that clearly hampered his ability to score goals.

Who knows? Perhaps Cole's career would have looked totally different if he never injured his knee against Burnley.