Carlton Cole has opened up on being tricked by his England teammates - into taking Viagra.
The former West Ham striker made seven appearances for the Three Lions between 2009 and 2010, during Fabio Capello's tenure.
However, rather than the hard-nosed Italian, it is a prank which occurred at the training ground that endures as one of Cole's most vivid memories from his time on international duty.
The Chelsea academy product has recalled being stitched up by Jermaine Defoe in the days before a match with Holland in 2009.
Cole took a blue pill believing it to be a vitamin before a training session - only to discover the truth, mid-session.
“The stonker was there," Cole told The Footballer's Guide to Football Podcast. "I wasn’t sexually aroused but it was just there.
"I was the quickest person around that pitch - I had three legs!"
Defoe - who instigated the prank alongside Wayne Rooney and Shaun Wright-Phillips - remembers the incident fondly.
He added: “Carlton was always smiley, happy and that, so we just thought, if you are going to get anyone, who would take it?
“He just took it because he was thinking, ‘Oh yeah, vitamins, good for my body’.
“I was in stitches. It was the funniest thing. When we told him after . . . his face!
“And there’s nothing he could do. I thought, ‘You’re going to have to deal with this for a few hours, my friend’. Oh my God.”
Defoe, who currently plays for Rangers, maintains that then-England manager Capello never found out about the incident.
However, he admits that the prank would not work in 2020 due to how tight football kits are - to which Cole responded: "I had erased that from my memory - you’re bringing back bad memories.”
Cole retired from football in 2017 after brief stints with Celtic, US club Sacramento Republic and Indonesian side Persib Bandung.
