Crystal Palace must give opportunities to Freddie Ladapo.
Cole, 33, is at the tail end of his career and while he has experience, he is only going to be a very limited stop gap.
Palace have Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham out injured, but do have Freddie Ladapo sat in reserve.
The Eagles created headlines in April 2016 when they signed Ladapo from non-league side Margate.
The former Colchester striker impressed after scoring a hat-trick in a trial match for their under-23s, and convinced Alan Pardew to hand him a deal.
18 months on, and Ladapo could, by default, have the opportunity he has longed for.
Palace have been paying him wages for the past year and a half, and it would make no sense to not use him now they really need him – and prioritise his development ahead of signing Carlton Cole.
Ladapo had a couple of underwhelming loan spells in League One last season, but Palace have little to lose by throwing him in.
Harry Kane’s loan spells were nothing special either before his big Tottenham chance, and if Ladapo can have just a fraction of his first team success, Palace would surely take it.
Earlier this month he struck twice to help Palace’s under-23s to a win over Leeds.
It was a visionary move from Palace to sign him in the first place, now is their chance to follow it through.
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