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Gerrard inks new deal with Liverpool

Comment: 0 January 13th, 2012 by: admin

Skipper Steven Gerrard signed a long-term contract with Liverpool Thursday, also giving him and ambassadorial role that will effectively see him finish his career at Anfield.

The veteran midfielder has 18 months left in his existing contract before he penned a new deal that adds another year. When the accumulated contract expires in June 2014, Gerrard will be 34 years old.

Gerrard is having an excellent start to the year. Returning after a 10-month lay-off after healing from groin-related injuries, he has scored twice since the turn of the year and has now agreed to stay with the club where he began his football career.

So far, he has 566 appearances with Liverpool since his debut in November 1998. Of those games, 394 have been in the Premier League.

“I’m very happy. It’s a very proud day for myself and my family,” he said.

The signing also came with perfect timing, occurring a day after Gerrard scored the winner in the Carling Cup first leg battle against Manchester City.

“It comes on the back of a fantastic team performance last night when we got the result we were looking for. The contract extension coming the day after has been the icing on the cake so it has been a perfect 24 hours,” he shared.

“There will be more highs and lows, there’s no doubt about it as that’s part and parcel of being a football player at a top club,” he expressed. “The important thing is that you react well to the lows and experience more of the highs.”

Reds manager Kenny Dalglish also shared his thoughts on Gerrard’s loyalty. “In this day and age there’s not many people who go through their football career and represent just one club, especially people with quality like Steven,” he revealed.

“If you’re happy where you’re playing, you’re enjoying what you’re doing and you enjoy the football club I don’t see any reason to move, and it’s fantastic for us that he hasn’t.”

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