Some players are the identity of their clubs where they started their career and also end their professional career. Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard is one such legendry player who has been at Anfield since 1997. He has since been a top performer for the Reds perhaps he is now 35 year old and still Premier League club wants to extent his stay in the England by another couple of years. Notably, his current contract is due to expire in next twelve months and after a two-year extension, he will be there until 2015, even after then, there is a clause which can enhance his stay further, which means, Liverpool doesn’t actually want to leave his legendary player until he says goodbye to soccer. Gerrard engaged with the club when he was just nine and now it has been approximately twenty-five years he is associated with them, in fact, he is the captain for more than ten years now.
These facts make him one of the all-time performers for the Anfield club and if we look into his playing record, he has fired 159 goals in 630 games which make him seventh highest scorer in the history of Liverpool along with an eighth according to number of appearances. He told about his journey at club website where he said, “I think everyone knows what it means to me I’ve been here that long and so to extend, it’s a big day for me and I’m really happy for myself and my family. It’s great news. It lets me know the club thinks an awful lot of me and want me here. I’m glad it’s all done and it’s happened at the right time before the season, so I can just focus on playing as well as I can.”
Similarly, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is also keen to keep him until he retires from the game, he told to a TV source that “I’m absolutely delighted, as you can imagine. I’ve talked throughout the pre-season about wanting to bring other players into the group, but this was one of the – if not the – most important signings for us. He’s an icon here at the football club – a real iconic figure for players and supporters. I think he’s still got a good few years left yet. His level of performance last year was outstanding.”
This is actually a good move to honor key players by the Liverpool and if they could retain him till his retirement, he deserves a grand farewell by both fans and club officials.