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From The Times
May 20, 2010
Jamie Carragher issues red alert over exodus
Defender tells his unsettled Liverpool team-mates to commit now to Anfield or not to bother coming back for pre-season training
Matt Hughes
Jamie Carragher has told his unsettled team-mates that if their commitment to Liverpool is in doubt, they should not bother returning to the club for pre-season training.
The centre back is thought to have been referring to Javier Mascherano, who has expressed an interest in joining Barcelona, but his words of warning are equally pertinent to Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, whose futures at Anfield are also uncertain.
In his first interview since returning from international retirement, Carragher spoke passionately yesterday about his pride over the prospect of representing England at the World Cup finals, but his love for Liverpool is even more enduring.
Carragher, 32, has taken heart from Rafael Benítez’s announcement yesterday that he wants to stay as Liverpool manager and would welcome a similar expression of commitment from some team-mates. There is little prospect of Gerrard leaving, despite renewed interest from Real Madrid, but with Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona preparing to bid for Torres, the same cannot be said of the Spain striker.
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Liverpool finished seventh in the Barclays Premier League and Carragher said yesterday: “As soon as the game at Hull finished I wished the start of next season was the next day. The best thing is to forget it and get on with it. I know what it’s like on the back of a poor season and just want us to get back.
“The people who want to be there will come back. If people don’t, then no problem. There will always be a Liverpool Football Club. People always talk about players leaving, about ‘Is this the end of Liverpool?’ but no chance.
“Better players than the ones we have now have left and we have replaced them. Anyone who doesn’t want to be there, no problem, but we’ll start next season with the players who want to do well.”
Carragher said that Liverpool’s disappointing season, in which they failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2003, had influenced his decision to end a self-imposed international exile dating back to 2007.
It will only be a brief international return, which he attributes to injuries to the likes of Wes Brown and Joleon Lescott. Carragher does not plan to make himself available for the European Championship qualifying campaign, which begins in September.
“Don’t forget Liverpool had come off the back of two Champions League finals in 2007,” he said. “I’m not in that situation now. That is what’s changed.
“With how it’s gone this season, at my age, you want to play at the highest level possible for as long as possible, and the highest level is the World Cup and the Champions League. Hopefully, if I go to South Africa, it’s a one-off because the injury situation will have been cleared up for next season.”
Carragher said that he has not been given any assurance by Fabio Capello that he will make the England manager’s final squad of 23, to be announced on June 1, but it seems inconceivable that he will be left out, with Matthew Upson or Michael Dawson the most likely central defensive casualty.
Capello emphasised yesterday that England can win the tournament and identified the state of the pitches in South Africa as one of his biggest concerns. Given the condition of the turf at Wembley, though, his players should have little problem adjusting to a substandard surface.
“I think England are one of the best teams in the world and we can win against anyone,” Capello said. “Whenever you go to South Africa you are interested in the quality of the pitches, but my most important hope is that all my best players will be injury-free.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol....260.ece
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