Stoke's £12 Million Bid for Cole

The strangest story of the day comes from The Mirror. Last week Tony Pulis said that Stoke had not put in a £9 million transfer bid for Carlton Cole and that the story had been made up by the newspapers.

The Mirror obviously don't believe him as they claim Stoke have now offered £12 million for Cole (£9 million up front with £3 million depending on appearances). They say that Stoke have reignited their interest in Cole after Nice demanded £14.3m for Remy.

The Mirror claim that West Ham are happy to sell Cole and hope to buy Yakubu for £7 million as his replacement.

This all sounds complete b~@llcks to me - but I guess it will be interesting to see if Cole plays against Deportivo La Coruna today.