West Ham United's offer to free agent Joe Cole remains the biggest on the table.
Liverpool are favourites to sign the released Chelsea midfielder. The offer by the Anfield club, though, is not the largest on the table.
The £4.5million-a-year package is £700,000 a year short of that on offer at West Ham, says the Daily Mail.
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has always been reluctant to shell out huge sums on transfer fees, although he is less reticent about players' salaries.
Spurs and Arsenal are also not out of the running and a switch to either would enable Cole to maintain an interest in Champions League football and not cause any major domestic upheaval.
But the Hammers now look a distant fourth in the running.
