Steven Gerrard changed his mind and made his peace with Champions League winners Liverpool on Wednesday.
If he signs a new deal on Friday and plays when Liverpool begin their defence against Welsh champion Total Network Solutions (TNS) next Wednesday, then Chelsea and Real Madrid may as well put away their chequebooks.
”I love Liverpool so much,” Gerrard said. ”This is my club. My heart is with Liverpool. Everyone who knows me can see how I feel. The last thing I wanted to do was leave; I just could not do it.”
Liverpool turned down a £32-million transfer bid from Chelsea on Tuesday, but it appeared Gerrard was on his way out of Anfield when he announced that contract talks had broken down.
There was speculation a year ago that Gerrard, a leading figure in the England’s World Cup campaign, might be moving to Chelsea.
When it appeared on Tuesday that he may have played his last game for the club, Liverpool fans accused him of disloyalty.
”I was just thinking: ‘How have we got into this mess and what is the best way out of it?’,” Gerrard said. ”I knew I had to do what I had intended to do all along and sign a new contract.
”I have had a lot of thinking to do. Over the last few days and the last four or five weeks I have been really confused. It’s been difficult. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”
Gerrard said he hopes to sign a new contract in the next two or three days.
The 25-year-old Gerrard, whose standout performance in the Champions League final six weeks ago helped Liverpool win the famous trophy for the fifth time, said on Wednesday he is staying at the club where he started his career eight seasons ago.
”This will not be happening again next summer or ever again, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
News that Gerrard is staying came first from Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry.
”I couldn’t be more delighted. He has decided to stay with us because he realises how much the club means to him,” Parry said. ”Even when he said he was going, I don’t think the language he used suggested he really wanted to go.”
If Gerrard plays against TNS, then Champions League rules say that he will not be able to play for any of Liverpool’s rivals in the competition if he is transferred.
Gerrard’s future at Anfield had been in doubt because talks on a new contract had stalled. Although he had two years left on his current contract, he was asking for a new deal with a substantial salary rise from £80 000 a week to £100 000. — Sapa-AP