Rafa: How i got Gerrard to stay Red

Leo-Blaugrana · Dec 25, 2005

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has spoken of how he helped persuade Steven Gerrard to stay at Anfield by reminding the midfielder of his Merseyside roots.

Gerrard looked set for a summer move to Chelsea until he had a last-minute change of heart.

And Benitez has revealed he played a major part in that U-turn by making the England star realise how much he loved Liverpool.

'We had a private conversation about what Liverpool means to him and what he wanted,' Benitez told Radio Five Live.

'I said `all your family and you are Liverpudlians for all your life, so what do you want?'

'He said `I want to win trophies with Liverpool', so I told him we needed to analyse the situation again and he decided to stay, which made us all very, very happy.'

Gerrard himself has admitted he just needed a jolt to put everything into perspective.

The 25-year-old told the club's official website: 'I always knew what I had and what I would be leaving behind if the move did go through. When it came to the crunch though, I couldn't let go.

'Sometimes in football you can take what you've got for granted until you are put in a situation like I was put in.

'I didn't realise how hard I have worked to get to where I am. And it took some of my family to remind me of that, make me realise how proud I am to be here.

'Everything went through my mind at the time. I looked at players who had moved on and been successful and players who had stayed at the one club and been successful.

'I was thinking about my future non-stop through Euro 2004 and then it happened again the following summer.

'But it wasn't a case of thinking that I had to move on to be successful. I always knew that, if I was to stay, I could be successful here. It was down to miscommunication.'
Click to expand...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=353121&cc=5901

mymaster · Jan 2, 2006

Not on topic but juzt fell in love with Gerrard's game, I'm Peruvian and have been following the English league and I've seen some Liverpool games lately, the guy has to be one of the top 3 players in the EPL. He works his heart out, runs the whole field, rarely makes a mistake, and plays very smart, not that flashy and an expert at getting the job done! Congrats on havin such a great player hopefully England will go far at the WC.

usscouse · Jan 3, 2006

mymaster said:

Not on topic but juzt fell in love with Gerrard's game, I'm Peruvian and have been following the English league and I've seen some Liverpool games lately, the guy has to be one of the top 3 players in the EPL. He works his heart out, runs the whole field, rarely makes a mistake, and plays very smart, not that flashy and an expert at getting the job done! Congrats on havin such a great player hopefully England will go far at the WC.
Click to expand...

Now and again I catch some Peruvian football on Gol. It's a whole different game isn't it? Totally different styles of play. The SA close passing control and the North Euro speed and triangular game. Some good players out of your league but I'd think they'd find it hard to adapt to the Prem.