However, the word is that negotiations have begun over a new deal for ex Chelsea man but that Cole and the club are some way apart in terms of their ideas on wages.
The big number nine reportedly wants £40,000 a week but the Hammers hierarchy are unwillingly to make that kind of pecuniary commitment to a player who can no longer play three games in a week as he could in his younger days and are therefore likely to make an offer of substantially less money, believed to be in the region of £20,000- £25,000.
This is unlikely to go down well with Cole and his advisers, who are likely to look at other options. The 29 year old was the subject of a sustained interest from Turkish side Kasimpasa in January but has reiterated on several occasions his desire to stay at the Boleyn Ground, and will, not unreasonably in this journalist's opinion, feel that he deserves a tad more loyalty from the club, as its longest serving player after Mark Noble, having signed in summer 2006.
Stoke City manager Tony Pulis and Crystal Palace boss Ian Holloway are both huge fans of the big striker and may well move in with better offers in the summer than the one the Hammers will make...
By Alex Shilling, News Editor
@alexshilling
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