My dad is one of Premier League’s best ever strikers but never got a look-in at Arsenal… I’m out to avenge him in cup

ANDY COLE’S glittering career began as an Arsenal academy graduate in 1989.

Thirty six years on, and his son Devante is tasked with putting the Gunners to the sword in a Carabao Cup tie that has the potential to be one of the greatest ever giant-killings.

A product of Manchester City – in the academy from 2003 to 2015 – Devante’s journeyman career has so far seen him play for 10 clubs, scoring 95 goals in 386 senior appearances.

He even came close to joining West Ham in July 2015 as a 20-year-old after playing in a friendly as a trialist, but fell at the final hurdle.

At the age of 30, he is now at Port Vale after signing on a free from West Brom on deadline day, where he failed to score or start a single game last term in the Championship.

But he has hit the ground running at the Valiants in League One, scoring in each of his first three games for the club ahead of welcoming Mikel Arteta’s Prem title challengers to Vale Park.

It is a full-circle moment for the Cole family – with dad Andy, now 53, coming through the Hale End system and making just one appearance over a three-year stint.

He went on to become one of the Prem’s greatest ever strikers, netting 68 goals in 84 appearances for Newcastle before making the switch to Manchester United.

At Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson between 1995 and 2001, he notched 121 goals in 275 games, winning five Prem titles, two FA Cups and one Champions League, including the famous Treble of 1999.

Devante has not been able to live up to his father’s stellar career, previously criticising Man City for failing to give English talent a chance in the first team, having snubbed the chance to join United’s academy as a youngster.

But he has paved his way through the lower leagues Barnsley, Bradford, Fleetwood Town and over in Scotland with Motherwell.

And unsurprisingly, he is not short of confidence in front of goal. He said earlier this month: “I believe I can score goals at whatever level I play at. I always feel I can score goals.”