Former Chelsea star Joe Cole has revealed that he regrets leaving Stamford Bridge for Premier League rivals Liverpool.
In July 2010, the England international ended his spell with Chelsea by moving to Anfield on a free transfer.
He struggled with injuries while at Liverpool and only managed 42 appearances before leaving on loan.
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When asked if he would do the same if he could go back in time, Cole said (via Metro): “At the risk of upsetting Liverpool fans any more than they’re upset with me already, I probably wouldn’t.
“But not for any fault of the club or because I didn’t like the club or anything. I signed for the previous owners and then they sold the club four or five weeks later.
“And you know what football clubs are like, it’s hard enough when managers come and go, you can fall out of favour. But when the owners come and go… I knew it was only a matter of time before Roy [Hodgson] got the boot, and that’s when my injuries started in the sense that, from my knee injury, I kept picking up muscle injuries. I couldn’t explode as quickly as I wanted.
“A bit like you see with Gareth Bale now, and even more so with Gareth. It’s glaring because he’s a sprinter, I was never really a sprinter. But I was never as sharp as I used to be [after the knee injury]. So right club, wrong time I’d say.”
The winger joined Lille on loan in August 2011 in an attempt to get his career back on track.
The spell was a successful one, with Cole scoring nine goals in 43 appearances.
Speaking about the loan, Cole continued: “I went to France and I absolutely loved it. It was like a breathe of fresh air. Rudi Garcia was brilliant with me, he said I only needed to train twice a week but I’d still play. I ended up playing 40+ games in the season.
“It got to the point where I wanted to stay at Lille, Lille wanted me, but then Brendan [Rodgers] came to Liverpool. Brendan I knew from Chelsea, he knew what I could do, he’d seen me in my pomp, so he thought I could be a useful player.”
However, things didn’t work out under Rodgers and Cole soon left Liverpool for West Ham. He had spells with Aston Villa and Coventry before retiring in 2018.
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