To the surprise of many, Devante Cole was on trial for the Hammers in their recent pre-season friendly against Colchester United. The former Manchester City man was on-trial with Terry Westley’s men, having been released by the 2013/14 Premier League champions earlier this month.
However, the Englishman struggled to make an impact in a lacklustre loss to the League One side. West Ham slipped to a 1-0 defeat, and were lucky that it wasn’t more. The East London club are looking to increase their attacking options this summer, but perhaps the son of Andy Cole, is not the right fit.
Unfortunately, Devante never made a first team appearance for Man City and so far has featured during loan spells at Barnsley, and more recently Milton Keynes Dons. He helped the latter achieve promotion to the Championship, scoring three goals in fourteen appearances. He has also played for and scored at international youth level, for England’s U16s, U17s, U18s and U19s.
Terry Westley spoke out on his intentions after the match to secure the youthful forward on a permanent basis:
‘He is someone we will look at seriously. We think we are short in those forward positions. Unfortunately tonight it was difficult for a front player, because you are asking them to pick up their deepest midfield player and he did not get a lot of the ball.
But he showed flashes that he is dangerous in behind, and we know of him obviously because it is part of our job to know the talented young players around. He does not see a pathway through at Man City, so he is available and is someone we will look at seriously.‘
The Citizens have indeed offered Cole a new deal, but he is likely to not want to take it up due to the limited playing opportunities at the Eithad. If we did sign him up, compensation would have to be paid. We spoke to Josh Lawless, from Read Man City, and this is what he had to say on the youngster:
‘Devante Cole is a strange one. He’s clearly talented but has never really broke through at City and has been forked out on loan in League One on two separate occasions.
He can play on the left or through the middle but with the level so high at City, he has fell behind in the pecking order and seems surplus to requirements. West Ham could be a good move for him with Bilic aiming to revamp the whole philosophy but frankly there are far better prospects than him at City.’
