Cole stays patient in fitness fight

31 July 2009 10:08
Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole admits he needs to get himself fully fit before he returns to the fold this season. The England ace, 27, missed the final four months of the 2008-09 season with anterior cruciate ligament damage and suffered a setback in his recovery programme when he required surgery on a meniscus tear which forced him out of the club's pre-season tour of the United States and made him a major doubt for the start of the new season. "The main thing for me is last season I started with niggles and my natural way was to keep trying and wanting to help the lads, but I never got myself fit," he admitted. "In the end the knee went so I learned a lesson from that and play games when I feel strong and ready. "There is no rush, as far as I am concerned Chelsea don't want me at 50, 60%, it does nobody any favours, they want me at 100%, so I will come back when I come back and take every day as it comes. "You want to play games, I don't know when I will be back doing that but it will be great to see the lads settling in, and maybe more players to come in before then. The way I see it is when I get injured then I come back stronger. I'm coming into my peak years. The next five years will be the best years of my career so I want to get myself bullet-proof. "Being an injured Chelsea player is probably the second-best job in the world behind being a Chelsea player. But the fans want to see me playing well; they don't pay their money to see me running around on one leg."

Source: Eurosport