Joe Cole sees chance for fresh start at Liverpool

Joe Cole admits he is relishing the chance of a fresh start at Liverpool after a frustrating end to his spell with Chelsea.

Cole endured two injury-hit seasons with Chelsea before deciding to quit the Premier League champions at the end of last season after falling out of favour with manager Carlo Ancelotti.

The England midfielder was consigned to the substitutes’ bench for much of the final weeks of the season and made only cameo appearances as Chelsea clinched the double.

Following an equally disappointing World Cup, Cole was desperate for a change of fortunes and opted for a new challenge at Anfield.

Despite interest from Tottenham and Arsenal, he signed a four-year contract worth an estimated 90,000 pounds (136,000 dollars) a week with Roy Hodgson’s team on Monday.

Cole can’t wait to get stuck into the task of reviving Liverpool following their woeful campaign and he is looking forward to featuring far more often with the Reds than he did at Chelsea.

“I’ve had a tough two seasons with injury and one of the factors in my decision was coming to a club where I’d be able to string 90 minutes together,” Cole told Liverpool’s website.

“Your body needs to get used to the sharpness of doing it week in, week out. I’ve had a difficult couple of years but I’m coming here as an experienced player who is still fresh and excited about it.

“It’s been a crazy few days. I know I have made the right decision and I am looking forward to the challenge.

“I have played in London all my life. I could have stayed at Chelsea because the fans loved me and I won things, but I wanted to challenge myself and when I knew Liverpool were interested it was a no-brainer because they are the biggest club in the country.

“This is a massive club. I tried to take everything out of the equation, take the financial and location side out and just thought in football terms.”

After his entire career to date in London at West Ham and then Chelsea, many expected Islington-born Cole to move to Tottenham, but he had no qualms about leaving the English capital.

“I’m 28 now and I have a good family around me,” he said. “I know people will make me feel welcome and the response I have had has been amazing.

“When you move to a new club it’s important to immerse yourself into everything about it and that’s what I’ll be looking to do.

“I know I’ll have to take a few weeks to understand the accents. I don’t know how the Spaniards have coped with it!”

Cole knows Liverpool have plenty of room for improvement after their worst finish for a decade and he won’t be playing in the Champions League this season, but he is confident he hasn’t taken a backwards step in his career.

“I jumped on board because with the players we have here and the players we are looking to bring in, it’s definitely going in the right direction.

“I had a chat with the gaffer about football and was impressed with him. The club has had Spanish and French managers over the years and I think it’s a breath of fresh air to get an Englishman in.

“He’s very much about a team effort and he told the lads it’s about effort and desire. We have to put that in to get results and we have to be together as a team.

“I think Roy is the man to bring us together tactically. It’s going to be a very long season and there will be spells when things go wrong, but it’s about how quickly you get out of them.

“If you start separating or relying too much on Stevie (Gerrard) or Fernando (Torres) then we can be in trouble, so we have to stay together, fight for each other and we can have a good season.”