Idag har det cirkulerat rykten om att Joe Cole är nära en flytt till Liverpool. Bookmakers rent av bedömt dessa rykten vara så pass starka att somliga spelbolag har tagit bort möjligheten att spela på Liverpool som Coles nya klubbadress.

Roy Hodgson är glad över att Liverpool förknippas med en så skicklig spelare, men hänvisar till Christian Purslow för vidare information rörande transfers.

”I’m not a betting man so that doesn’t actually play a big part that betting is suspended,” sa Hodgson till Sky Sports News. ”I don’t even know enough about betting to know what that means.

”As far as I know, Joe Cole is still a player looking for a club.

”I know we’ve been connected with him, and it’s good to know we’re connected with players of that quality, but I don’t have anything to report on the subject.

”I haven’t had any discussions with him, but I had a brief chat a while back.

”If you want to know about transfer targets, and how things are progressing, you’ll have to ask (managing director) Christian Purslow because he’s the man looking after those discussions, not me.”

Däremot bekräftade Hodgson att han träffade Liverpools delägare George Gillett inför dagens inställda match mot Al-Hilal.

”It was nice to meet him, of course. I don’t know him very well, but it was nice to speak to him.

”It was good of him to come to the game. It’s a pity that, I’m sure, like the rest of us he would have liked to have seen Liverpool play.”