Cole tempted by the dugout

Lille midfielder Joe Cole says the idea of moving into coaching once his playing career ends is an appealing prospect.

Cole, 30, joined the Ligue 1 champions on transfer deadline day in August, after spending his entire career to date in English football.

The ex-West Ham and Chelsea man, who is on loan at Lille from Liverpool, feels the experience has been an eye-opener, to the extent that he would be interested in becoming a trainer when he hangs up his boots.

“Seeing the way (Lille coach) Rudi (Garcia) leads the team out has opened my eyes of playing high up the pitch, with the full-backs pushing forward and complimenting the movement of the midfielders,” Cole told L’Equipe on Thursday.

“When you look at the relationship between (Florent) Balmont and (Mathieu) Debuchy, it is very fluid.”

“But that does not come naturally, you have to work on these relationships. Seeing these intricacies makes me want to become a coach.”

Cole also suggested English clubs are tactically less developed than their European counterparts in regard to their ball retention.

“When I played at Liverpool and other clubs, sometimes I wondered why our opponents had more possession of the ball than us,” he said.

“With England, we had (Steven) Gerrard, (Frank) Lampard, (David) Beckham and (Wayne) Rooney, yet, for example, against Macedonia, they had 60 per cent possession against us, and no one knew why.”

Cole has enjoyed a productive loan spell at Lille, scoring eight goals in 23 appearances so far this season.