Inside role of Premier League loans manager securing transfers before chaos of deadline day

Former West Ham striker Carlton Cole has pulled the curtain back on his work as the club's loans and pathways manager. The Hammers icon has underlined what it means to him to help shape careers for potential pros, even if they don't end up starring at the London Stadium.

Cole, 41, made almost 300 appearances for West Ham across a nine-year spell in east London and earned his spot as a favourite among fans. He retired following a short spell in Indonesia back in 2017 but returned to his old stomping ground in his current role last year.

He has opened up about what his job entails behind the scenes just as the summer transfer window draws to a close. Much of West Ham's summer's business has centred around incoming names, but Cole has had his hand in shaping the club's business with departures for some of their brightest young talents.

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"I saw the benefits of having a loan and being looked after whilst on loan and having a pathway," he said on the . "So what we do at West Ham is obviously create a pathway for them. Once they get to a certain level and they're under-21s and you see that, OK, they need a bit extra to try and get to the standard of the Premier League.

"Because under-21s football, PL2 and the Premier league, the gap in quality is so far apart... you see a good player, but they're not gonna get pushed to get to the Premier league level and be able to expose themselves, so you have to expose them to certain men's football."

Cole, whose own career was almost curtailed by an online impostor, spoke with All Out Football co-host Joleon Lescott about his own loan experiences. In fact, the pair even linked up themselves as youngsters when Cole joined Lescott's Wolves side on temporary terms at one point.

Despite being sent away from Claudio Ranieri's Chelsea side because he "kept coming in late," Cole came to appreciate the experience in hindsight. And that has in turn shaped his own motivation to help footballers today forge their own careers, even if that isn't with West Ham in the long haul.

"Some of these boys that we send on loan might not even have a chance to get to the first team," he continued. "But we'd have made a footballer, because they'd have been playing 30, 40 games in a lower league or somewhere else in the world. And we've created this pathway for them to be a footballer and get paid to play football. And that's the main thing for me."

Centre-back Kaelan Casey is an example of one player who likely benefited from Cole's input this summer. The 20-year-old has made the jump into West Ham's senior ranks but was sent out on loan to Championship side Swansea City for the season earlier in August.

Likewise, several young talents have made the step into Graham Potter's senior orbit after impressing for the academy. Midfielder Freddie Potts is the gem of that current crop, with Cole likely having some say as to what the most logical next move is for him and his career.

After scoring 52 goals in 289 Premier League appearances and earning seven caps for his country, Cole has been around the block and then some. And the next generation of talent at West Ham are the ones benefitting from his experience, having been the victim of his own cruel slip-ups on the way to becoming a cult figure.

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