Free agent Joe Cole has reportedly been offered £90,000 a week to become Roy Hodgson's first signing at Liverpool but three other Premier League clubs are still in the hunt for the midfielder.
Cole is available on a free transfer from Chelsea after his contract expired at Stamford Bridge and Liverpool have shot to the front of the list of clubs chasing the trickster's talents. Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham are all believed to be interested in Cole and present options for the 28-year-old to stay in London.
Liverpool can't offer Champions League football as Arsenal and Tottenham can, but hope their lucrative contract, reported to be for three years, and the likelihood of first-team football will tempt Cole to Anfield.
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has claimed Cole's departure from the English champions has more to do with the player's wage demands than football reasons.
"The problem was economic," Ancelotti said, according to quotes in the Daily Mail. "There is a problem between the club and Joe Cole, not me. When the problem is over money, then it is not my problem. This is the life of footballers. Cole, like Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti, did a fantastic job, but it's time to move on."
