Devante Cole

Manchester City

Cole joined Premier League club Manchester City in April 2003, at the age of seven. He had previously spent a day training with city rivals Manchester United. His first involvement with the Manchester City first team came in July 2013 when he was selected for a pre-season friendly tour of South Africa, subsequently playing against SuperSport United. He featured heavily in the 2013–14 UEFA Youth League, scoring six goals and finishing as the second-highest scorer overall as City made a run to the quarter-final stage of the competition. In July 2014, youth team coach Patrick Vieira took his players off the pitch after an alleged racist incident in a friendly game, following a similar incident where Cole was racially abused by opposition players and supporters during a UEFA Youth League match against Atlético Madrid five months earlier. On 19 August 2014, Cole signed on loan for Barnsley until 5 January. He made his professional debut the same day, appearing as a substitute in a League One game away to Coventry City. He scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance, a 4–1 win over Gillingham at Oakwell. He went on to score seven goals in 23 appearances, finding the net in the victory that marked manager Danny Wilson's 1,000th game in management. On 22 January 2015, Cole returned to League One on loan at Milton Keynes Dons until the end of the 2014–15 season. Dons manager Karl Robinson said he had wanted to bring the youngster to Stadium MK…

Cole has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, and under-19 levels. He made his debut for the England under-19 team on 5 March 2014 in a friendly match against Turkey, starting the game and scoring the opening goal. On 29 May 2014, he made a further appearance from the start in a European Championship elite qualification match against Ukraine, which England lost to a deflected 94th-minute strike that eliminated them from the final tournament. In November 2023, Cole was called up to the Jamaica national team for a set of 2023–24 CONCACAF Nations League matches. He was named in a provisional 60-man squad in February 2024.

Cole is a quick striker with natural finishing ability, who can also play out wide.

Cole was born in Alderley Edge on 10 May 1995. He is the son of the former Manchester United, Newcastle United and England striker Andy Cole. He stated that he is a different type of player to his father, who played in the same position, and that he wanted to make a name for himself. His paternal grandparents migrated to England from Jamaica in the 1960s; his grandfather worked as a miner. Cole attended the North Cestrian School in Altrincham, and at age 13 stated that he supported Manchester City and would like a career in computers if he did not make it as a footballer.