Talking to the club's official website he has called his decision to move to Anfield a “no-brainer” and named Liverpool as “the biggest club in the country.”
GEAR:Get the new Liverpool kits
Cole, who spent seven years at Chelsea, credited Roy Hodgson, Steven Gerrard and the Liverpool fans as instrumental factors in deciding to move away from London for the first time in his career.
“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," he said.
“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.”
Despite the disappointment of finishing seventh last season and failure to qualify for the Champions League, Cole described a number of the Liverpool squad as “world class players” and “big names” and described Hodgson’s appointment as “a breath of fresh air.”
He said: “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.”
NEWS:Hodgson - Cole decision not driven by money
Cole was also keen to shrug off his reputation as injury prone, after his last two seasons saw him struggle to hold down a first team place at Chelsea, and denied at 28 he has peaked as a top class footballer.
“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," he said.
“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.”
“I just want to get myself fit. I'm a bit behind in my training work but I want to get fit and help the team to achieve something.
“I want to be part of a team that's capable of doing great things.”
By Jamie Bowman
