Gianfranco Zola believes Carlton Cole will 'give everything' if he is selected for the weekend game with Everton.
The England striker joined his team-mates for full training this week and is in line to make his first appearance since injuring his groin while on international duty with England on 28 March.
"We know Carlton has the possibility of playing. He has been working very hard and training well and he has another session on Friday and I will decide after that if he plays," Zola said.
"He's not the kind of guy who makes noises to get himself noticed. If he plays he will give everything, if he doesn't, then he will know the reason why. We are not stupid, we know it is the right thing to do."
It would be easy for the manager to feel hard done-by with injuries to key players affecting team selections over the past few months, but Zola is simply delighted with the efforts of those that have stepped in to help keep the Hammers' push for continental football alive.
"Maybe if he [Cole] would have played, and we had Jack Collision and Scott Parker, it would have been a different story but I didn't have them. It's unfair to think like that because the players that have come in have played and given everything.
"Diego Tristan has been very good and the players who have come on like Luis Boa Morte and Junior Stanislas have done very well. In football you can't think 'what if', you have to work with what you've got and make the most of it. The point is we still have a strong possibility of getting into Europe and that is all that matters to me.
Should Cole return for Saturday's game at Goodison Park and then appear in West Ham's final game of the season with Middlesbrough, England manager Fabio Capello will no doubt be taking note with World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra coming up in June. For now, though, Zola knows Cole is firmly focused on getting fit again for his country.
"I think he wants to play for West Ham because he wants to play for them. Consequentially, if he does well for us he will have a good chance to be involved in the national team."
The England striker joined his team-mates for full training this week and is in line to make his first appearance since injuring his groin while on international duty with England on 28 March.
"We know Carlton has the possibility of playing. He has been working very hard and training well and he has another session on Friday and I will decide after that if he plays," Zola said.
"He's not the kind of guy who makes noises to get himself noticed. If he plays he will give everything, if he doesn't, then he will know the reason why. We are not stupid, we know it is the right thing to do."
It would be easy for the manager to feel hard done-by with injuries to key players affecting team selections over the past few months, but Zola is simply delighted with the efforts of those that have stepped in to help keep the Hammers' push for continental football alive.
"Maybe if he [Cole] would have played, and we had Jack Collision and Scott Parker, it would have been a different story but I didn't have them. It's unfair to think like that because the players that have come in have played and given everything.
"Diego Tristan has been very good and the players who have come on like Luis Boa Morte and Junior Stanislas have done very well. In football you can't think 'what if', you have to work with what you've got and make the most of it. The point is we still have a strong possibility of getting into Europe and that is all that matters to me.
Should Cole return for Saturday's game at Goodison Park and then appear in West Ham's final game of the season with Middlesbrough, England manager Fabio Capello will no doubt be taking note with World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra coming up in June. For now, though, Zola knows Cole is firmly focused on getting fit again for his country.
"I think he wants to play for West Ham because he wants to play for them. Consequentially, if he does well for us he will have a good chance to be involved in the national team."