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• Midfielder excited by prospect of playing next to Joe Cole
• Gerrard expresses admiration for Roy Hodgson

Steven Gerrard has all but confirmed he is to remain at Liverpool by expressing his delight at the prospect of playing alongside Joe Cole at Anfield next season and with the plans of Roy Hodgson, the new manager.

Cole yesterday agreed a four-year deal with Liverpool after being released by Chelsea at the end of last season. It has been suggested that the 28-year-old, who was also wanted by Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, is a replacement for Gerrard, who has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer. However, it would appear the 30-year-old sees his long-term future at Liverpool.

“I know Joe well through the England set-up and have seen first hand just how good a player he is,” Gerrard is quoted as saying by the Liverpool Echo. “He has proved his ability over many years in the Premier League – sometimes against us – so it will be fantastic to play alongside him in a red shirt for Liverpool.”

“I’ve told him what a great club this is and I’m sure Joe’s the sort of exciting talent our fans will love to see.”

Gerrard, who returned to pre-season training today, had refused to speak about his future while at the World Cup with England, fuelling the belief that he was about to leave the only club he has played for.

However, the Anfield captain has clearly been impressed by Hodgson having met the 62-year-old shortly after he replaced Rafael Benítez as manager at the start of the month. And, despite Liverpool’s difficult financial position, and the fact they will not be playing in the Champions League next season, believes he can instigate a turnaround.

“I wanted the chance to meet Roy Hodgson privately and having done so, I’m very impressed with his plans for the future,” said Gerrard, who has been credited by his new club manager for “selling” Liverpool to Cole while the pair were in South Africa with the England squad.

Doubts, though, remain over the future of Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano.

Steven GerrardLiverpoolSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk

• Manager reveals captain’s role in signing of England midfielder
• Would suggest that 30-year-old is set to remain with club

Roy Hodgson, the Liverpool manager, has given a clear indication that Steven Gerrard is to remain with the club after claiming the midfielder played an integral role in persuading Joe Cole to move to Anfield.

Cole yesterday agreed a four-year deal with Liverpool after being released by Chelsea at the end of last season. It has been suggested that the 28-year-old, who was also wanted by Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, is a replacement for Gerrard, who has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer.

However, it would appear the 30-year-old sees his long-term future at Liverpool. According to Hodgson, it was he, along with Jamie Carragher, who told Cole during England’s recent World Cup campaign in South Africa that Anfield rather than White Hart Lane or the Emirates Stadium was the place to be.

“Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard did a good job in selling the club to Joe at the recent World Cup,” said Hodgson. “He [Cole] was undecided about what he wanted to do and to be fair it takes a bit more selling to persuade a Londoner who has played all his life in London to move up to Liverpool. The simple solution would have been to stay in the London area.

“I am pleased to get the player because it is very important to try to improve our squad as much as we can in order to reach the high goals we have set ourselves,” Hodgson told Talksport. “It is also pleasing the reaction of the fans has been as positive as our reaction, so at the moment that is perfect. Now it is up to Joe to show on the field he is the right man.”

Cole is Liverpool’s second signing of the summer following the arrival of the Serbia international Milan Jovanovic, also on a free transfer.

Yossi Benayoun and Emiliano Insúa have left the club while Javier Mascherano is expected to do the same. The future of Fernando Torres also remains unclear.

Joe ColeLiverpoolguardian.co.uk

• Former Chelsea midfielder signs £18.7m, four-year deal
• Hodgson hopes capture will also appease Torres

Liverpool hope Joe Cole’s arrival at Anfield on a four-year deal worth £18.7m can convince Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to commit their futures to the club.

Cole agreed to become Liverpool’s second summer signing today when he rejected the chance of Champions League football with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in favour of a £90,000-a-week contract on Merseyside. The transfer will be finalised providing the England midfielder passes a medical in the next 48 hours in Switzerland, where he has arrived at Liverpool’s pre-season training camp.

Liverpool’s offer to Cole, who was available on a free following Chelsea’s refusal to extend his contract at Stamford Bridge, is understood to have bettered the terms available in north London but was not the most lucrative deal on the table. West Ham United, one of Cole’s former clubs, made the highest offer to the 28-year-old but the prospect of joining Liverpool, and regular first-team football under the new manager, Roy Hodgson, swayed him.

Cole’s decision gives the lie to the notion that remaining in the capital on the most lucrative contract available was his over-riding ambition. The Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti, claimed at the weekend that Cole’s problem at Stamford Bridge was not personal but economic.

His move to Anfield has wider implications for Liverpool, who have endured a turbulent period on and off the field recently, with the departure of Rafael Benítez as manager accompanied by doubts over the futures of Gerrard, Torres and Javier Mascherano.

Liverpool are reluctant to say anything publicly about Cole’s signing, beyond confirmation of the agreement, until a player who suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury in January 2009 has passed a stringent medical. Club officials are increasingly hopeful, however, that a transfer that has been well-received by senior players will serve as a statement of intent to Gerrard and Torres should they become the subject of bids from Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively.

No offers have been received for Gerrard or Torres, despite long-standing interest in the pair and their frustrations at the club finishing seventh in the Premier League last season and Liverpool’s struggles to compete at the higher end of the transfer market. Mascherano is a target for Internazionale and Liverpool may show less resistance to selling a player who has agitated for a move for two summers.

In the circumstances Cole’s arrival will provide a significant fillip to Liverpool who, despite the £350m debt placed on the club by the co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have signed an England international and the Serbia striker Milan Jovanovic on free transfers, but substantial personal terms, this summer.

Selling Yossi Benayoun to Chelsea raised £5m and Liverpool intend to increase that figure significantly by reducing the size of the first-team squad. Emiliano Insúa is considering a £5m move to Fiorentina and Albert Riera is close to joining Olympiakos for a similar fee. All the deals were put in place before Hodgson joined on 1 July. The manager has confirmed a new left-back is a priority, given that three will have left since January should Insúa follow Andrea Dossena and Fábio Aurélio out the club.

Hodgson has said that Liverpool’s World Cup contingent will not be considered for Europa League qualifying duty next week, but that policy may not apply to Cole, who was restricted to just two substitute appearances totalling 44 minutes in England’s woeful campaign.

Ian Rush, who retains close links with his former club, said: “I’m sure Roy Hodgson will play him in every game, especially if he is playing well, and maybe getting regular football is a reason why he has come to Liverpool. To get Joe to come out of London and come to Liverpool is a coup for Hodgson itself. We might not have been as successful as we would have liked to have been recently, but this shows we can still attract top-name players, whether that’s an England international or a foreign international.

“We’ve got a great new manager in Roy Hodgson and he knows what he wants, and he can talk these players into signing for our club. This is the signing supporters wanted and it’s a big boost for them. You look at last season when we went into it not hoping but thinking we were going to win the league.

“This season people are thinking are we going to finish in the top four. I think this sends a sign out to Liverpool supporters that the club do mean business.”

LiverpoolJoe ColeTransfer windowSteven GerrardFernando TorresAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk