Joe Cole was among the first wave of young English players snapped up by Chelsea before Roman Abramovich's ownership was supercharged by the appointment of Jose Mourinho.
Cole was signed by Claudio Ranieri but went on to huge success under Mourinho. Despite being one of the first additions of the Abramovich era, Cole didn't have much cause to interact with the Chelsea owner.
Yet when Cole and Mourinho were at loggerheads, Abramovich himself decided to intervene.
Joe Cole on Chelsea transfer request after Jose Mourinho rift
"I also had a meeting with Roman Abramovich. I’d had an argument with Jose and it was petty from me," Cole tells FourFourTwo.
"We talked about leaving, then I said to my agent, 'OK, let’s put the official request in.' Peter Kenyon was the go-between, so my agent will have rung Peter and said, 'Look, Joe’s not happy, he’s fallen out with Jose, he officially wants to leave.'
"That’s how a transfer request works – it’s not like a big blind date where you go and give someone a piece of paper.
"Roman felt the need to come out and speak to me at the training ground, which was very unusual. That was my one and only dealing with him.
"I was adamant, but he probably thought, ‘This kid just needs a little bit of love.’ He wanted to keep me and was like, 'Don’t worry, you’re a Chelsea player.'
"I didn’t really want to leave, I was just throwing my toys out of the pram – it was all just forgotten about afterwards.
"I had a really good period after that. At the end of that season, I ran through to score at home against Manchester United and put us 2-0 up, which sealed our second successive title.
"That goal meant everything to me – to win the title at home, against your bitter rivals, in the sun.
"Everything about that day just felt like footballing heaven for me. I was thinking about where I used to sit in the stadium to watch Chelsea – it was a beautiful moment."
Cole went on to play for Liverpool, Aston Villa and Coventry City as well as returning to West Ham United, enjoying a loan spell at Lille, and spending three seasons with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
