10 hours ago
27
Joe Cole has confessed his absence of emotional attachment to Liverpool meant he ought never to have joined the club following his departure from Chelsea.
The former Blues midfielder, who spent seven years at Stamford Bridge, departed west London in 2010 to join the Reds on a free transfer.
Despite the anticipation surrounding his move to Anfield, things never worked out for Cole on Merseyside. He managed just 42 appearances for the club before returning to West Ham in 2013. It was upon re-joining the Hammers that the former England international, 43, acknowledged that signing for Liverpool had been an error because he lacked the drive to represent the Premier League giants.
He remarked at the time: "I can only play for teams that I'm passionate about and I think that's what went wrong for me at Liverpool. I didn't feel a connection with the club or the place that I had at Chelsea and West Ham."
Speaking about his media obligations when joining the club, he was informed by the interviewer that he was signing for the biggest club in England - a view Cole conceded he believed was incorrect.
"When I joined, the guy interviewing me said 'you've joined the biggest club in the country' and reeled off the trophies they'd won," he recalled.
"I just said 'yeah, if you put it like that, I suppose you're right' and Liverpool used that as the headline to the interview. I didn't want to upset anyone so I just went along with it. But obviously they're not the biggest club in the country any more," he stated in 2013.
"How do you judge how big a club are? Nottingham Forest won the European Cup twice but they're not a bigger club than Chelsea."
The TNT Sports pundit will be making a return to Stamford Bridge today as part of the Chelsea Legends squad who take on Liverpool FC Legends, with the proceeds of the match going to charity.
Cole will be lining up against several of his former Liverpool teammates including Fabio Aurelio, Martin Skrtel and Pepe Reina. During his 2024 appearance on The Obi One Podcast, hosted by ex-Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel, Cole revealed his horror knee injury in 2009 meant he was never the same player again for the rest of his career.
He said: "I was never the same player after that. I done everything, ACL, PCL, MCL and I was out for 11 months. My body was just failing me... I really wrecked myself. That's how my body was after it."
Beyond the lack of rapport with Liverpool, Cole explained that relocating overseas 15 years ago would have been the wiser choice to extend his playing days. "I had a choice between Liverpool or Spurs because Arsenal pulled out and I just couldn't go to Spurs," he continued.
"If I could have my time again, I would probably go, 'No, you know what, wait.' And I'd have gone abroad, somewhere hot, because playing in the heat actually helped my knee."
English (US) ·