West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce says new signing Carlton Cole is close to being in first team contention.
Allardyce revealed the striker will be playing a part for the Development Squad later today when they travel to AFC Telford's ground to play Wolverhampton Wanderers.
He told whufc.com: "Carlton's had one game, we started pre-season training on July 1 and spent seven-and-a-half weeks building up to Cardiff, Carlton's been training with us for three weeks and played one game behind closed doors.
"In pre-season terms he's still four weeks off but we have to bring that forward as quickly as we possibly can. He'll be playing in the Under-21s on Monday to get another game.
"He's fit now but he's not match fit and he'll certainly come into the equation for when we play Burnley because we play Swansea on Sunday and then Burnley on Tuesday."
