MANCHESTER City are bracing themselves for an audacious swap deal suggestion from Blackburn Rovers.
Ewood Park boss Graeme Souness is thought to be keen to trade Andy Cole for Robbie Fowler.
There has been no official approach yet from the East Lancashire side who have just purchased former Blues favourite Paul Dickov but whispers around Blackburn have been growing louder over the last few days.
Ironically, the two players involved both enjoyed the best days of their careers under the managers involved.
Fowler became the most feared finisher in the land under Souness at Anfield while Cole built his reputation as a top Premiership striker under Kevin Keegan at Newcastle before being sold to Sir Alex Ferguson's side for a then British record transfer fee of '6.25million.
Pressure
At 32-years-old, Nottingham born Cole, a European Cup winner with United, is three years Fowler's senior though both are in the top five Premiership goal scorers of all time.
However, the emergence of Jonathan Stead and Paul Gallagher plus the arrival of Dickov have put pressure on Cole's place and Souness has been told, like Keegan, that the transfer kitty is light and that he must wheel and deal.
Both former England hit men endured difficult seasons last term as their respective sides became embroiled in a relegation battle.
The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) was at one stage asked to intervene in a dispute between Cole and his manager after he missed a club flight to Spain.
Cole, who scored 103 goals in the Red of United, did manage 11 last term while Fowler, in his first full season since joining the Blues from Leeds, scored ten times in 33 league and cup games.
The City man late in the season lost his starting berth in the side to Paul Wanchope and the Liverpudlian was forced to watch as the Costa Rican bagged four in the last three games in tandem with record signing Nicolas Anelka.
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Absolute rubbish. But cole would fit keegans profile for signing players.
1. over 30
2. vast wages
3. top class 5 years ago
4. would have got into title winning side 5 years ago
5. looking for last big pay day
Say it ain't so. Not Andy Cole...
No No,No,No,No,No,No,
No No,No,No,No,No,No,
No No,No,No,No,No,No,
Can't see KK going for that,well hopefully not.We'll take Stead off them for free if they want,do you reckon they'll go for that.I think it's a bit cheeky trying to swap our crap for their older crap,dont do it Kev.
At least cole can score goals and can hold the ball up, just he is ex man u so dont know if it will go down well at all???? Fowler has been a waste of space but can anyone tell me why when such a good player comes to CITY do they go off the boil?? EG T.sinclair, he was England squad and team 2 years ago, now dreadful first season, and he is a blue, this should have been a match made in heaven, then there is pointer(Sorry Macca) whats that all about?? read a story the other day that he is on 20,000 a week for 1st year then doubles for the second. GET RID KK he is waste of space.
Why couldnt city afford 2.5million for van buyten, they wanted david (Make a mistake) Sommil and valued him at 1.5million so all we needed was another million to get him in?? and that could have1 been spread over the players contract, 4 year deal 250,000 per year, whats going on.
Well i do know from a good source at the club that on Wednesday there was a board meeting with all major shairholders, chairman and KK after he got back from hols, dont know what that was about. well have to watch and see.
If the Fowler/Cole story has an ounce of truth, Keegan should move heaven and earth to make it happen.
Fowler is a millstone around our necks
Wanchope & Anelka will still be our No. 1s, but Cole would be a good reserve
I don`t think we can afford to have Cole as a bit part player, I think we should let Souness have Fowler provided he takes over his current contract and that of Macmanaman. That should clear the decks for a couple of youngsters and Jon Macken to have a decent chance.
Just skimmed the story and might be a bit confused. It sounds a great deal but how many bags of coal do we get?
The question is not do we want rid of Fowler, but why would we want Cole? No reason that I caould think of.
Cole has never been able to hit the proverbial barn door with a banjo, and at least Fowlup has more mileage left in him so thanks but no thanks Souey. How about Fowlup for Brett Emerton? That's more like it.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. Absolutely not. No way
No thanks Souey! The thought of Fowler is bad enough but not Cole! Fowler has a few critics to prove wrong so next season could be a good one for him. He also has more years left than Cole in the top flight so this would not be a wise move. Keep the faith!
No benefit to City in this swap unless we save a fortune in wages.
An intersting one !
Based on last season'e form Cole probably has the edge - he's certainly fitter and quicker and would suit City's style of looking to catch teams on the break. However at 32 he's 4 years Fowler's senior and we should therefore look for cash aswell.
Who is this supposed to benefit?? We may not be happy with RF but I for one would keep him than Andy Cole in a city shirt!! We are 6 mill in the hole for Robbie, Cole cannot have a value of more than around B#300,000 with a yearly wage packet of 3 times that! No lets not go there.
Well they are welcome to Fowler as far as I am concerned but not in a swap for Cole. The problem is I always get the feeling that KK ends up being the desperate party in any transfer negotiations so we buy high, sell low and generally accept deals that are not great. If we know that Souness wants Fowler then make him come up with an acceptable offer that doesn't include swapping one has been for another, hard cash or no deal surely?
Unlikely but if it does go ahead Souness may be able to extract a bit more effort from Fowler than Keegan has!
Fowler to Blackburn? A great move but do we have to take Cole in exchange? Couldn't we just let 'em have Fowler for nothing or a set of training bibs. Lets be fair.
Not sure about getting Cole, especially as hes an ex-red but it might be worth it in getting rid of Fowler
cole for fowler you have got to be joking,i wouldn't have cole if we got him for free and blackburn paid his wages.fowler has got more work in his little toe!
Mon dieu! No no no no no...Please let this be one of those funny dreams! Andy Cole - journey man, ex Fred and 32 - for Fowler who is 28! How much of a backward step would this be? This is wheeling a dealing must be getting KK confused. City are supposed to benefit not Blackburn. Fowler was improving towards the end of last season until the last few games when for some reason he fell behind Wanchope. Andy Cole is well past his sell by date.
Let me get this right here if all rumours are to be true, we are getting rid of Fowler (Blackburn), Wanchope (Lecce) & Macken (Blades - Season Loan) and replacing them with Cole.
The only reason why would be to reduce the wage bill unless we receive money on top of the Fowler deal. Does keegan have something up his sleeve? Knowing him it will be Anelka for Pele - ahh...second thoughts!
There are some things that should never be allowed to happen and this is one of them! Whilst I'd willingly drive Robbie Fowler down to Ewood Park myself, Cole summed up the arrogance of those in red beautifully and should never, NEVER be allowed to wear a beautiful blue shirt!!
Blacburn can have robbie as long has we can have andy cole and gary flitcroft in return
No no no no no more over 30 year old players especially Cole!
I'd settle for swapping Fowler for Graham Souness - both are long past their use by dates but Souness still shows a bit of passion. Cole for Fowler would be a bonus.