'I wish I never joined Liverpool from Chelsea but I didn't have a choice'

Chelsea hero Joe Cole felt trapped into joining Liverpool due to the knee injury struggles which crippled his blossoming career, with the free transfer quickly turning into a nightmare

Joe Cole had the privilege of playing for two of England's top clubs - but he wishes he never made the move from Chelsea to Liverpool.

The former England midfielder, 42, spent seven successful years at Stamford Bridge, winning three Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup. So Liverpool snapping him up on a free transfer in the 2010 summer transfer window looked to be a major coup.

But the season before he headed to Anfield, where Liverpool host Chelsea today (October 20), Cole had suffered a debilitating knee injury which sidelined him for nearly a year. Before that, he'd been in talks to extend his stay in west London.

But after he returned, those negotiations went cold. Cole previously explained how a mix of his ego and the injury led him to make the decision to leave, which he would come to regret.

Appearing on John Obi Mikel's The Obi One podcast earlier this year, he recalled: "My ego got involved a little bit and football was more of a struggle. I would play, knee would blow up. I couldn't do certain things that I used to be able to do.

"I needed an ice pack [after every game on my knee], I was in a lot of pain. It's very rare you get back to where you were... something subconsciously clicked and I thought to myself, 'I'm never going to get [back] to the player I was. I've got to leave.' Because I don't want to finish my Chelsea career just sitting there on the injury table."

His stay on Merseyside couldn't have gone much worse. Cole was sent off on his league debut against Arsenal and would go on to suffer further injury issues, only ending up making 42 appearances for the Reds before returning to West Ham in January 2013.

While he still holds Liverpool in high regard, he regrets picking them over the alternatives. "I had a choice between Liverpool or Spurs because Arsenal pulled out and I just couldn't go to Spurs," he continued.

"I just couldn't go. It would have made sense, Harry Redknapp was the manager, they had a good team, I lived in London, half my pals are Spurs fans. I just couldn't do it.

"My daughter was just born and Liverpool is a great club. It didn't work for me there but it is a fantastic club, an institution globally. But 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."

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