Cole signs 18-month Celtic deal after successful trial

Mark Holmes
Carlton Cole: No County move

Carlton Cole: No County move

Former Chelsea and West Ham striker Carlton Cole has signed for Celtic until the end of next season following a trial spell with the Scottish champions.

The 32-year-old was released by the Hammers in the summer after netting three goals in 26 appearances last season.

Cole has scored 85 goals in 384 games in England, the bulk of which came during almost nine years at Upton Park. He also won seven England caps.

The striker comes in as competition for Leigh Griffiths and Nadir Ciftci.

With Anthony Stokes completely out of favour, Celtic have been short of numbers up front since Stefan Scepovic returned to Spain just before the transfer deadline to sign for Getafe on a season-long loan.

On September 27, Hoops boss Ronny Deila said: “You need someone who has different skills than the players we have and Carlton has that, so we will see what happens there.

“But that type of player is what we have been looking for. At the moment he is in London. Maybe he will come back again next week. I don’t know for sure what is happening.

“He hasn’t played football for a long time so it will take time for him to get going again.

“But he has been consistent in the Premier League for a long time and he has a lot of the qualities that we are looking for in matches like today.

“He was very positive with everything about Celtic. He has been to the games here and he sees opportunities to score a lot of goals here.”