West Ham braced for Kop Cole raid

Liverpool are among the clubs planning a raid on West Ham to sign Carlton Cole in January.

Cole's outstanding form has generated interest from a number of teams at home and abroad, all of them encouraged by the financial problems at Upton Park.
 
The Hammers fought off bids for their top players in the summer but are braced for more pressure when the transfer market opens again.
Cole, who is 26 on Thursday, has scored six times in 11 Premier League games this season, including one against Liverpool in September when Rafa Benitez was impressed with his all round performance.
 
The former Chelsea striker has made enormous progress in the last 12 months, with Gianfranco Zola helping to transform his great power and huge potential into consistent form.
 
He has played in four England games this season, taking his total of caps to six, although a hamstring injury has ruled him out of the squad for Saturday's friendly against Brazil.
 
Cole believes he would have been fit for the game in Qatar but he missed West Ham's home defeat to Everton on Sunday and Fabio Capello operates a strict policy whereby he will not call up a player if he was not fit enough to take part his final club match before international duty.
 
Cole should be back to lead the line for his club in the vital Premier League game at Hull, a week on Saturday but his days in the claret and blue of the Hammers may be numbered.
 
Benitez is anxious to boost his firepower. With Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard struggling through injuries, the manager has been forced to rely more heavily than expected on back-up strikers David Ngog and Andriy Voronin. 
 
This time last year Benitez was trying to lure Emile Heskey back to Anfield but lost out when Aston Villa paid Wigan £3.5m for the England centre forward in January.
 
Heskey has failed to command a regular place at Villa since his transfer but Cole, who signed a contract tying him to Upton Park until 2013, is having the best year of his career and admits the change has been triggered by improvements in his attitude, often questioned during his younger years.
 
In the last 12 months Cole has scored 13 goals in 27 Premier League games and it has not gone unnoticed. Arsenal are interested and there are Spanish clubs also watching him, which all means West Ham look set for another uncomfortable transfer window.
 
The Hammers have become accustomed to fighting off clubs interested in their best players since their former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson was plunged into crisis and forced to hand the club over to Icelandic bank Straumur.
 
They have worked hard to offset the big losses made during Gudmundsson's ownership but the unexpected threat of relegation after a disappointing start to the season will increase the pressure to raise more money from sales if a new owner cannot be found quickly.
 
West Ham were pleased to retain the likes of Cole, Rob Green, Matthew Upson, Scott Parker, Jack Collison and Mark Noble in the summer but they sold defender James Collins to Aston Villa for £6m to fund team strengthening in other positions.
 
Last January, Craig Bellamy and Matthew Etherington were sold and Zola's first team squad has been cut to trim back the wage bill and supplemented with loan signings and promising youngsters like James Tomkins, Zavon Hines and Junior Stanislas.
 
The Hammers will be targeted again by those managers keen to reinforce their squads in mid-season, simply because they are one of the clubs who may be forced to sell. Sunderland, having lost Craig Gordon with a broken arm, have an eye on West Ham's England goalkeeper Green.
 
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