Sam Allardyce says that Carlton Cole's return to West Ham should be completed in the next few days.

Allardyce, speaking about the imminent return of his former striker in this morning's pre-match press conference revealed that he expects Cole to put pen to paper within "days now"."The contract is done by the Chairmen and his agent, but at the moment we're just concentrating on the game against Hull City on Saturday," Big Sam told the assembled press pack. "We'll play a couple of behind-closed-doors games just to let him get some match practice and then we'll take it from there."We've had Carlton training with us for a while now and as soon as he's fit enough to play there will be an offer of a short term contract on the table, there's no doubt about that. That's why he's here with us and that's why we're trying to improve his fitness having missed pre-season."As soon as he's ok and suitable terms and conditions have been agreed, which is nothing do with me, then he'll join us for however long the contract is negotiated for."This club has kept him fit for a long time during his career. Carlton has certain training programmes that were built to suit him and keep him available for a selection on a Saturday afternoon. It's always worked very well during the time I've been here."The first of those behind-closed-doors friendlies takes place later today, when West Ham's Under 21s faces their counterparts from Ipswich Town. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Rush Green this evening, but has been rescheduled.