Derby County Interested in Colorado’s Terry Cooke

Apparently preseason friendlies in the USA yielded Premier League side Everton with more than just exposure and a warm-up to the regular season.  Everton Manager David Moyes was impressed with the play of Colorado’s English midfielder Terry Cooke.  Moyes has supposedly been telling everyone he can find to take a look at the 32 year-old playmaker.  With Everton’s extreme lack of depth and lack of interest in Cooke, Moyes must have thought Cooke was good, but not quite good enough for the Premier League.  Cardiff City, Preston North End (no stranger to chasing US players, as they’ve been after Taylor Twellman for a while), and Derby County are reportedly interested, with Derby’s interest the strongest.

Cooke is no stranger to the English Top Division.  He was a product of the Manchester United youth system (capturing their Young Player of the Year award in 1995), played with Manchester United, Manchester City, Sheffield Wednesday, and Grimsby Town, and had loan deals at a half dozen other English sides.  However, injuries have haunted him throughout his career and Sheffield Wednesday sold him to Colorado in 2005.  With the Rapids, Cooke has been the driving creative force of the offense, leading the team in assists this year as well as the past two.