Harry Redknapp speaks out on the latest rumours surrounding Joe Cole, Lassana Diarra, Emmanuel Adebayor and Peter Crouch.

Harry Redknapp has admitted that he is interested in signing Joe Cole, one year after the midfielder opted to join Liverpool over Spurs.

Tottenham were leading the race for Cole’s signature last summer, when he was a free agent after leaving Chelsea, but the Lilywhites missed out on the 29-year-old as Roy Hodgson swooped and took him to Anfield.

Twelve months on, Cole’s Liverpool future is in doubt, following a disappointing debut season on Merseyside, and the recent arrivals of Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam – and Redknapp concedes that he could move for Cole again in the final week of the transfer window.

“I like Joe. No-one knows him better than me,” said the Tottenham manager. “I signed Joe when he was an 11-year-old and I’ve got all the time in the world for him.

“He’s a good player. We haven’t made any enquiries for him but I wouldn’t sit here and say that I wouldn’t have him at the club - I’d be lying.”

Desperate to reinforce his midfield, Redknapp is still hopeful that Spurs will move for Real Madrid’s Lassana Diarra – but he admits that the player’s wages could scupper the deal.

“I had him at Portsmouth. I signed him from Arsenal for �5million and Portsmouth sold him for �22m,” said the Lilywhites boss.

“He’s a good player. I would think there would be an issue with his wages - he’s on big money at Real Madrid - but again he’s a good player who would improve us.”

Redknapp is currently in the dark over the latest developments surrounding Spurs’ efforts to sign Emmanuel Adebayor on loan – but he remains optimistic that the ex-Arsenal forward will come in to boost Tottenham’s front line in the coming days.

“I’m not sure where that’s at, the chairman’s dealing with it,” said the Spurs boss. “I spoke to the secretary this morning and he didn’t seem to know much about what was happening either.

“The chairman’s on the case. Whether it’s done, nearly done or not going to be done, I don’t know.

“Maybe it is done but I haven’t spoken to the chairman this morning. He’s away at the moment so I will catch up with him in a couple of hours, when he’s up and about, and find out then.

“He’s a good player, a real talent. There’s no doubt about that, and he could come here and be a big success. He’s got a big point to prove, he’s got to get back to the form he showed at Arsenal and Real Madrid last year.

“Would the fans take to him? It depends how the player does. William Gallas came here last year and did fantastically well for us so the crowd took to him.

“If he comes here and does well and gets goals then the fans will love him. If he’s useless they’ll slaughter him.”

While Redknapp is keen to see Adebayor at White Hart Lane, he insists that he has no intention of selling any of his current strikers – including Peter Crouch, who is a target for Stoke City.

“Robbie [Keane] has gone, obviously, so we’re okay,” said the manager. “At the moment I don’t see any movement with anybody.

“I keep reading rumours about Crouchy but I love Crouchy. He’s a good player, so I don’t know where that one’s come from. There’s nothing there as far as I know know, and I don’t want anything to happen there.”

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