by LFC #1 » Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:01 pm
also this on lfc.tv:
Rafael Benitez has delivered the news all Liverpool fans want to hear - Steven Gerrard wants to stay at Anfield and win trophies with the club he grew up supporting.
Speculation has been rife in the media that Gerrard will leave Anfield next summer but Benitez spoke to his captain during the club's Christmas lunch last week and was assured that the player has no intention of leaving.
"I said to Steven that I was sure he wanted to stay here - and he said, 'I do'. I then said to him, 'Look, if you want to win titles, you want medals and you want Liverpool to have these things then I am going to need your help.'
"I really think he wants to stay so now what we must do is make the squad stronger for him. If you want to win games you need big players - but if you want to win titles then you need a big squad.
"We are working now with the idea of a creating a big squad with a strong mentality. If we do that and keep our best players like Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, then we can win games and titles. We need to build for the future and hopefully with Gerrard here we can achieve what we want. What I do know is that we wouldn't be better without him because he is so important to us. We want him to stay here for 10 years winning titles. He makes the difference for us, as we have seen in recent games.
"We created two or three clear opportunities against Olympiakos and Portsmouth but at the end we needed Gerrard scoring the goals and that shows how important he is to us. We need to get a lot of good players around Stevie. I want him to score 12 or 15 goals a season, not six or seven, because he has the potential to do that.
"What Steven wants is to win with this club and we will try because with him it will be easier. But he is not the only player who wants to win, all the players here want to win titles."
