Liverpool lose out in bid to sign West Ham striker Carlton Cole

Posted Wednesday, September 01, 2010 by theguardian.com

Liverpool lose out in bid to sign West Ham striker Carlton Cole
Carlton Cole will not be moving to Anfield after Liverpool failed to come up with an offer acceptable to West Ham.

Sunderland made the biggest splash, Manchester City finally recouped some money for Robinho and Birmingham City helped take this summer's total spend towards £350m. Arguably the most significant development on transfer deadline day, however, was what did not happen at Liverpool.

For the second successive season Liverpool have been left over-reliant on the form and fitness of Fernando Torres having failed to improve cover for a striker who has suffered two injury-plagued campaigns and, as Roy Hodgson conceded on Sunday, is not fully recovered from the knee problem that impacted on his World Cup. The Anfield club made a belated attempt to wrest Carlton Cole from West Ham United yesterday, having considered previous options over recent days, but several offers were unable to convince the Hammers to sell the England international.

Liverpool are believed to have offered Lucas Leiva, the Brazilian midfielder, and Ryan Babel, their Dutch international forward, in exchange for Cole but neither player wanted to leave Anfield for Upton Park. Babel reportedly travelled to London via helicopter in anticipation of a deal only to eventually Tweet that; "I'm going no where. LFC all the way. YNWA!!" as the clubs failed to agree on a valuation for Cole. With PSV Eindhoven's Ola Toivonen priced out of Liverpool's reach, and Bayern Munich refusing to release Mario Gómez even on loan, Hodgson will have to make do with Babel, David Ngog and Dirk Kuyt as cover for Torres until January.

The failure to sign a much-needed striker means Liverpool recouped more than they spent in this transfer window, another indication of the financial restrictions under the co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and this after convincing Torres and Steven Gerrard to resist any overtures for their signatures in the summer.

Hodgson did at least resolve Liverpool's deficiency at left-back with the signing of Paul Konchesky from Fulham, the manager's former club, in a £3.5m deal that also sent promising youngsters Lauri Dalla Valle and Alex Kacaniklic in the opposite direction. The Liverpool left-back Emiliano Insua, who rejected a move to Fiorentina in the summer after a £5m deal had been agreed between the clubs, joined Galatasaray on a season's loan with a view to a permanent deal. The French midfielder Damien Plessis signed for Panathinaikos while Liverpool are still hopeful of releasing Nabil El Zhar and Charles Itandje on loan after the deadline.

City recouped an initial £18m, rising to £21m, for Robinho after the errant Brazilian forward signed a four-year contract with Milan – two years after his £32.5m arrival at Eastlands from Real Madrid. The Premier League's biggest import on deadline day belonged to Sunderland and their club record £13m capture of the Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan from Rennes.

The 24-year-old, who scored three goals in Ghana's run to the World Cup quarter-finals, signed a four-year contract with Steve Bruce's side. Gyan said: "My family is in England already and I am happy this is the right place for me. The Sunderland coach has faith in me because he has been following me for two years now. I am pleased I have the opportunity to come to England."

Tony Pulis ended his exhaustive search for a new striker moments before the deadline when Stoke City signed Eidur Gudjohnsen on loan from Monaco and also the former Arsenal, Birmingham City and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant. Alex McLeish was also active as Birmingham signed the former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb from Barcelona on a season-long loan, the Czech defender Martin Jiranek from Spartak Moscow and the Chile winger Jean Beausejour from Club America, both for undisclosed fees.

Everton rejected Tottenham Hotspur's offer of Robbie Keane and David Bentley for Steven Pienaar and Louis Saha. Harry Redknapp initially proposed a swap deal of just Keane for Saha and Pienaar, who is out of contract at Goodison Park next summer, only to throw Bentley's name into the deal too this morning. Everton dismissed that offer but allowed Joseph Yobo to join Fenerbahce on a 12-month loan with a view to a £5m permanent transfer next summer. David Moyes also enquired about Charles N'Zogbia but was unable to further his interest in the Wigan Athletic winger without selling Ayegbeni Yakubu.