The West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola has come out to rubbish the rumours that the club will need to sell Carlton Cole in January to balance the books at Upton Park.

The England striker Carlton Cole has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool, and, to a lesser extent, Man Utd, but Zola is adamant that Cole will not be going anywhere.

“This year we are scoring more than we did last year so I think we are improving there but we all know Carlton Cole is an important player for this team, not only for his goals but for his presence,” Zola told the Press Association.

“We are very happy with him and we are going to help him keep scoring the way he is scoring. I know Carlton is happy here. I know the club have no intention of selling any of our important players.”

“There is a lot of speculation and I know that a lot of messages coming out are not true. I don’t want to pay attention to it. It’s been 13 or 14 months that I’ve been in charge and it’s never stopped.”

And i don’t think even this statement will stop the rumours, because the final decision will be made by the West Ham board, not Zola. An offer of £20m may be too good to refuse…..