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Cape Town - New Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen admits he had come to the point in his Liverpool career where he had to move on.
Allen, who scored his first international goal for Wales in their 4-0 demolition of Moldova on Monday, made the move from the Reds to the Potters during the summer transfer window for £13million.
The midfielder reckons his move to the Bet365 Stadium could reignite his international career and says he already feels refreshed after leaving Merseyside behind.
"I think it had come to the point where I needed to move on," Allen said.
"Personally, it was pretty obvious.
"Any player will tell you regular football makes tonnes of difference to the way you perform and the way you feel out on the football pitch.
"It comes to a certain stage in your career where if it's not happening then you have to go and seek it out.
"Hopefully I will get much more game time now and I think that is going to be really important for me in my international career as well."
Allen is looking forward to getting back to work with deadline day signing Wilfried Bony as well as the rest of Mark Hughes' talented squad.
"It's pretty obvious that my type of play would not have suited Stoke years ago," Allen added
"But the likes of (Xherdan) Shaqiri, (Marko) Arnautovic, Bojan, (Ibrahim) Afellay and (Giannelli) Imbula, players they have brought in - and others that were already there (Glenn) Whelan, Jonathan (Walters) and (Peter) Crouch - the list went on and on.
"It made it really appealing to me, and was one of the big reasons why I signed there.
"You have seen they have finished ninth three years running and they are not happy to settle for that. Now everyone is talking about the impact Bony will have at Stoke, and the boys who played with him at Swansea talk very highly of him.
"So I'm looking forward to getting back up there now and playing alongside him."
Allen, who scored his first international goal for Wales in their 4-0 demolition of Moldova on Monday, made the move from the Reds to the Potters during the summer transfer window for £13million.
The midfielder reckons his move to the Bet365 Stadium could reignite his international career and says he already feels refreshed after leaving Merseyside behind.
"I think it had come to the point where I needed to move on," Allen said.
"Personally, it was pretty obvious.
"Any player will tell you regular football makes tonnes of difference to the way you perform and the way you feel out on the football pitch.
"It comes to a certain stage in your career where if it's not happening then you have to go and seek it out.
"Hopefully I will get much more game time now and I think that is going to be really important for me in my international career as well."
Allen is looking forward to getting back to work with deadline day signing Wilfried Bony as well as the rest of Mark Hughes' talented squad.
"It's pretty obvious that my type of play would not have suited Stoke years ago," Allen added
"But the likes of (Xherdan) Shaqiri, (Marko) Arnautovic, Bojan, (Ibrahim) Afellay and (Giannelli) Imbula, players they have brought in - and others that were already there (Glenn) Whelan, Jonathan (Walters) and (Peter) Crouch - the list went on and on.
"It made it really appealing to me, and was one of the big reasons why I signed there.
"You have seen they have finished ninth three years running and they are not happy to settle for that. Now everyone is talking about the impact Bony will have at Stoke, and the boys who played with him at Swansea talk very highly of him.
"So I'm looking forward to getting back up there now and playing alongside him."
