Liverpool PodJockey Rich Jenkins discusses a question that will separate the red half of Merseyside; would selling Steven Gerrard now be beneficial to Rafa Benitez and Liverpool?
Steven Gerrard is the integral heartbeat of Liverpool Football Club, but could we survive a transplant? We discussed it on this week’s Liverpool FanCast, now we’d like to hear your views.
“Mr Liverpool”, was how Jim Beglin described Steven Gerrard on ITV’s commentary of the great victory against Inter Milan on Tuesday night, and it’s apt; you rarely think of one without the other. Gerrard has been influential in all of Liverpool’s recent triumphs – nodding the first of a remarkable 3-goal comeback against AC Milan in the Champion’s League Final, a blockbuster performance capped with a 35 yard last-minute equaliser in the FA Cup final 2006; the list of great Gerrard performances is seemingly endless.
However, during periods where Gerrard is injured, we have gone on decent runs of results, suggesting that he’s not as vital to this team as we might think. It could be argued that at this point he’s almost become bigger than the club, and it’s a longstanding belief at Liverpool that this should never be the case. However, by the same token, Liverpool are not a “selling club” and we should be looking to build around our best players who will help attract more talent – how many players when they have signed for Liverpool have said “the idea of playing with Stevie was a big influence on my signing”? Lots, that’s how many.
Unfortunately Gerrard lost a lot of fans support when he made his ‘will-he-won’t-he dalliances’ with Chelsea, and has only recently started to look like he really wants to play for the club again – you could see his body language over the last couple of years seemed to indicate he wasn’t happy at Anfield.
Selling Gerrard would earn the club £30 million easily, as he is still under contract until 2011 – but a player of his quality wouldn’t be in short supply of suitors. That money could be used to strengthen the team where we’re significantly weaker, like buying quality wingers, and a striker to partner Fernando Torres.
Gerrard is 28 this year, and as such for an all-action midfielder, will start coming to the end of his peak relatively soon. He is at his absolute pinnacle right now in terms of value, and will only start to decline as years go by.
So can anyone else see why selling Gerrard might actually benefit the club in the long run?
