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Cole: Reds are biggest club

22 Jul 2010 - 07:09:05

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New Liverpool signing Joe Cole claims he has joined the biggest club in the country purely for footballing reasons.

Cole, 28, chose the Reds ahead of Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham United when he officially put pen to paper on a four-year contract on Wednesday.

The England international was a free agent after being released by Chelsea at the end of the last Premier League campaign.

"I set myself a deadline to make a decision and when I made it I sent a text to (managing director) Christian Purslow and Steven Gerrard and then turned my phone off," he told the club's official website.

"I know I have made the right decision and I am looking forward to the challenge.

"This is a challenge for me. 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."

Meanwhile, Cole also admitted the prospect of playing at Anfield helped sway his decision.

He continued: "I thought about the semi-final of the Champions League in 2005 when I ran onto the field and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I was thinking about playing in that atmosphere every week and that swung it for me.

"That's the thing I am looking forward to. You talk to Liverpool players and talk about the European nights. I experienced it as an opponent and it was immense.

"To go out there and play in that atmosphere every week will be phenomenal."