Reports suggest Palace are considering offering Cole a contract – despite his most recent spell in Britain with Celtic proving a huge disappointment.
When you become the first team to fail to score a goal in your first six games of a new season, it’s not the usual response to sign a player who hasn’t scored a league goal in two years.
Yet, The Standard is reporting that Crystal Palace have drawn up a shortlist of free-agent strikers who they could sign outside of the transfer window after a 5-0 thrashing by Manchester City left them goalless, and pointless, in the top flight.
And the report identifies Carlton Cole as a potential addition in what would represent a stunning return to the Premier League for a player who looked way past his best during his previous stint on British shores.
After the goals dried up at West Ham, 33-year-old Cole swapped London for Glasgow in 2015 but his short stay at Celtic proved more than a little disappointing. He scored just once in five appearances, in a Scottish Cup clash with lower league Stranraer, and left for Sacramento Republic just eight months into a two-year deal.
Can Cole find Palace a goal?
Cole even admitted that he was concerned about being thrown straight into the action by manager Ronny Deila.
“I came here unfit so I have a lot of gratitude and respect for the gaffer,” Cold told the Daily Record in January 2016 after waiting four months for his first start.
“He did actually put me in quite early. It was earlier than I expected but I told him I wanted a little bit more time because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself and for everyone to start battering me.”
And that strike against Stranraer in January 2016 is his most recent in professional football. He failed to find the net in the US second tier or even during a controversy ridden spell in Indonesia with Persib Bandung.
Therefore, with concerns that Christian Benteke could be out for an extended period with a knee ligament injury, Palace fans could be forgiven for not getting excited about the prospect of Cole returning to London.
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