Gerrard ready to sign four year contract


Steven Gerrard has revealed he could sign a new four-year contract with Liverpool today - and promised Reds fans he will never put them through any more emotional turmoil.

For the second summer running Gerrard has performed a dramatic u-turn on his intention to leave Anfield, this time less than 24 hours after he told Reds chief executive Rick Parry his days at the club were over.


Claiming a complete misunderstanding of the club's long-term plans, the 25-year-old insisted he never wanted to leave his hometown club and is happy to stay for as long as they want him.

'The last five or six weeks were the hardest of my life because I wrongly believed the club did not want me,' Gerrard told the Liverpool Echo.

'I do not want to get into attaching blame to anyone. If I blame anyone it is myself.

'I wanted my future sorted out as soon as possible after the Champions League final but the longer it went on the more misunderstandings there were.

'I will be signing a deal, maybe even today.

'This will not be happening again next summer or ever again as far as I'm concerned.'

Gerrard dismissed reports of bust-ups with manager Rafael Benitez, who publicly stated on Monday he saw his captain as a future manager of the club.

Benitez had insisted he wanted Gerrard to stay, a view backed up by Parry, who nevertheless was pessimistic about the chances of keeping the player when he left Anfield late last night.

However, in a dramatic twist Gerrard informed Parry this morning he had changed his mind and he would be committing his future to Liverpool after all, snubbing an anticipated £40million move to Chelsea.

Although Gerrard was not at Liverpool's Melwood training ground this morning as Benitez put his squad through their paces ahead of next Wednesday's Champions League qualifier with Total Network Solutions, the fans who congregated outside were broadly supportive of his decision.

There were however some whose distrust of Gerrard's motives still lingered and were especially critical of the player's agent Struan Marshall.

Marshall has been blamed by many for unsettling Gerrard but the 25-year-old insists he has been a major factor in his decision to stay.

'I must defend my agent Struan Marshall in this,' he said.

'He has taken a lot of stick all along but he has never done anything I did not ask him.

'He's well respected at Liverpool and has done deals for me and other players in the past.

'He has conducted himself in the right way.

'He's a big factor in my decision to stay and has organised the contract.'

It is thought Gerrard has been given the rest of the week off after the tumultuous events of the last 72 hours, although he is still expected to be in Benitez's squad when they tackle TNS next week.

Parry revealed he had persuaded Gerrard that the club did not want to sell him in emotional phone calls late last night and early this morning.

He told Sky Sports News: 'Stevie had decided to stay. The last few days have been so difficult for him and I apologise to Stevie if I misread his emotions. But, in the last 24 hours he has reflected on it and decided to stay and it's what we wanted all along.'

He added: 'He realises how much the club means to him genuinely. It's a little bit like last year but even more dramatic.

'Even when he said he was going, I don't think the language he used suggested he really wanted to go. He never said `I want to go' it was `it's been so difficult in the last few days I don't think I can come back.' He never actually said `I want to go'.

'I guess after Istanbul I thought I knew where we were going but he clearly thought, for whatever reason, that the club wasn't as enthusiastic about keeping him as we might have been. He was anxious.'

In the Liverpool skipper's mind, the Reds were guilty of dragging their feet on negotiations to improve a contract which had two years to run and he began to feel that the club wanted him out of Anfield.

Parry said: 'It was obviously praying on Steven's mind. There were one or two issues about the contract which he took to be the club dragging its feet.

'We've had some emotional moments together over the last 24 hours and we've cleared all of that up....I don't think it will happen again.

'It was two late-night phone calls and a few phone calls this morning. I think he just wants a couple of days to go away and clear his head now because it hasn't been easy for him.'

sorry chelsea!!!