England midfielder Joe Cole

England midfielder Joe Cole 

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Liverpool announced on Monday they had agreed terms, reportedly £90,000 per week, with the midfielder who was released on a free transfer by Chelsea.

Cole has now formally joined Liverpool and took part in his first training session with the club at their pre-season camp in Austria on Wednesday morning.

"Liverpool Football Club are delighted to announce that Joe Cole has put pen to paper on a four-year deal," a club statement read. "The England international has passed his medical and has been allocated the squad No. 10."

Liverpool fans have welcomed the addition of Cole, but manager Roy Hodgson is at pains to underline that the signing will not by itself transform a side that failed to secure Champions League football last season.

"It's not going to be an overnight thing,'' Hodgson said. "Last season was a very disappointing season for the club in every respect, culminating in a popular manager leaving. You don't change doom and gloom or disenchantment with a signing or two.

"I would never want to dupe the Liverpool public by telling them all is rosy now because Joe Cole has signed. There's a lot more work to do, a lot more players are needed and we as a football team have got to make certain that when we take to the field the supporters will see there is something different and that we are making the biggest effort we can make. Then we can only hope they back us like they have always backed the club in the past.

"We have to get a good atmosphere back into the club, the Liverpool atmosphere that I've known and seen and experienced - often to my cost - over the years. We have to get away from the feeling that everything's not right and the club is going downhill because that isn't the case at all.''

Meanwhile, Liverpool have confirmed that Swiss defender Philipp Degen will be permitted to leave the club this summer.

Degen, 27, joined the club on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2008 but has made only three starts in two Premier League seasons.

"We have had an amicable conversation with Philipp and he wants to play football," Hodgson said. "We won't stand in his way and he is free to look for another club."football shirts