England midfielder Steven Gerrard insisted on Tuesday he wasn’t to blame after refusing to sign a new contract with Champions League winners Liverpool.
Gerrard released a statement to Sky Sports in which he claimed the past six weeks, during which time Liverpool failed to come up with a new contract offer, were crucial in making his mind up to leave the club he supported as a boy.
He said: ”The past six weeks have been the toughest of my life, and the decision I have come to has been the hardest I have ever had to make.
”I fully intended to sign a new contract after the Champions League final, but the events of the past five or six weeks have changed all that.
”I have too much respect for the club and the people at it to get involved in a slagging match.”
The midfield maestro — who said on May 25 that there was no way he would leave after experiencing such joy as the Champions League victory — told the Anfield club on Tuesday that he wants to leave, sparking a probable bidding war between Chelsea and Real Madrid.
The Reds had already rejected a staggering £32-million offer from Chelsea earlier in the day.
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry admitted he is disappointed at the news, having tried in vain to convince his talisman to stick with the club.
”Personally, it’s disappointing,” he told Sky Sports. ”We made it really clear we want Stevie to stay, no doubt about that.
”Now we have to move on. He made it clear he wants to go, so we look to the future now.”
Parry admitted Gerrard had been frustrated with the lack of success at the club, but the chief executive was convinced the Champions League victory over AC Milan in May would convince his star to stay.
”What better sign is there that the club is going in the right direction? I remember sitting with him last summer and understanding his frustrations, and they were deep. Obviously, it [Gerrard leaving] came close. It’s all to do with a perceived lack of success.
”I said, stick with it and see what we achieve, and we think we’ve achieved quite a lot.”
Parry admitted it was not greed that swayed Gerrard’s decision.
Asked why he thought the England man had decided to leave, he replied: ”Obviously, it’s ambition and success and trophies but the same with us.
”To be fair to Stevie, it’s not an issue now of money. The money wasn’t a problem.
”It was about long-term commitment and feeling this was the place he wanted to be and the place to win trophies, and I guess in the final analysis he feels he can do better elsewhere.”
Gerrard turned down the offer of a four-year deal worth £100 000 a week — a £20 000-a-week raise — to stay at Anfield.
Liverpool directors were trying to convince Gerrard, who has two years of his Anfield contract still to run, to stay despite the player’s agent, Struan Marshall, insisting that contract talks had broken off.
Chelsea’s offer would have eclipsed the £29,1-million Manchester United paid Leeds to secure the services of Rio Ferdinand three years ago.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who hoped the bid would beat anything Real Madrid could offer, was expected to go back with a bigger offer.
He knows Liverpool would rather sell Gerrard to Madrid than to a Premiership rival.
But Real Madrid director of football Arrigo Sacchi told The Sun: ”Of course we are interested in him, what big club isn’t? But until the player makes a move, we are not going to be involved in a fight for his services.”
Gerrard’s statement is tantamount to handing in a transfer request, and that should give Real the green light they have been waiting for to make a move.
If Gerrard moves to Chelsea, he will get less than Liverpool offered him, as Mourinho has said he will not give anyone more than Frank Lampard — who is the club’s highest earner at £90 000 a week. — Sapa-AFP