Exclusive: Newboy On Villa Switch
Carlton Cole this morning put pen-to-paper on a one-year Villa Park deal and vowed to shine under the guidance of David O'Leary next season.
The England Under-21 striker was being tracked by a number of Premiership clubs, but opted for Villa after being bowled over by O'Leary's positive plans for the 2004/5 campaign.
Cole enjoyed a similar spell with Charlton last season, but believes Villa Park offers a bigger stage to showcase his Premiership abilities.
Speaking exclusively to www.avfc.co.uk, he commented: 'It's good to know where I'll be playing next season. I always fancied coming here and I spoke to my family, they were 100 per cent behind it.
'There were quite a few clubs showing an interest, but I spoke to David O'Leary a couple of weeks ago and he seemed so positive in his approach. The way he talked to me was very positive.
'So I just thought that with a manager like that putting 100 per cent faith in me, I can only give a positive response by doing the business on the pitch.
'I'm still contracted to Chelsea and on the one hand this is a good chance for me to get back into the Chelsea team, but if not, I'd like to stay here.
'This could be a very big season for me. I just need to get games and score some goals. No offence to Charlton, but this is a bigger club and a bigger stage for me.
'Charlton was a good place for me to be at last season. I didn't really have a good start, I was injured for three months, and that really held me back. Now I feel good. I'm healthy fit and raring to go.'
He continued: 'From playing with England, I know Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Whittingham, Liam Ridgewell, Stefan Moore and Gareth Barry, so there are a few friendly faces already here.
'It's a good young squad for me to come into and I think that's another thing to help me progress. It could be an exciting season.
'Hopefully doing well here will help my progress in the England set-up. We'll wait and see what happens, but I'm feeling very positive about the future with Aston Villa.
'I know I'm a big lad, but I don't want to be labelled a 'target-man'. I'd like to think I'm more nimble on the ground than powerful in the air, but I can work on that as well.
'This is a good place for me to be and hopefully I can start to score a couple of goals with my head as well. I want to show I am improving my all-round game. There's good competition here, but I have faith in my own abilities.'
Has he taken a 24 hr PR course?
