Although much has been made of Liverpool’s focus of bringing in young, promising talent to fill out their squad, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has stressed that with Steven Gerrard departing for the LA Galaxy this summer the club needs to hang on to their veterans if they want to get the best out of their youngsters.
New deals are on the table for both Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho, but some of the elder statesmen of the side are watching their contracts tick down. Yesterday, the Northern Irishman confirmed that the club would like to keep hold of both Glen Johnson and Lucas, but the likes of captain in waiting Jordan Henderson and long serving defender Martin Skrtel have a mere 18-months left on their current agreements. A number of other players, including Jon Flanagan, Brad Jones and Kolo Toure, will be free-agents come the summer. Despite the various contract sub-plots, Rdogers has dismissed fears of a mass exodus from Anfield this summer.
“We can’t have three or four leaving – it is about the needs of the team,” explained the Liverpool manager ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup clash with Bolton Wanderers. “The intention is to keep the senior players because of the mix of the group. For our young players to develop, they will need seniority around them. You can’t just have a group of young players.”
New deals for Henderson, Flanagan and Skrtel have been rumoured and reported to be in various stages of completion in the press, but definitive news is yet to come from the club on any of them. While Lucas is looking more and more likely to remain at Anfield despite interest from abroad, with only five months left on his deal Liverpool have re-opened talks with Johnson in an attempt to get him to stay at the club. Now, whether this is just a tactic to try to force him out for a little bit of cash rather than have him leave on a free remains to be seen…
