PARRY: GERRARD NOT FOR SALE

From premiership.com
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry concedes an offer for England midfielder Steven Gerrard could be made in the summer, but the Anfield supremo insists any bid - even of £50million - would be turned down.

In a frank interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Parry claims Real Madrid asked for an option to sign Gerrard when Liverpool clinched the deal for striker Fernando Morientes in the January transfer window.

He also denied Chelsea made an offer last summer - although he concedes the Barclays Premiership leaders may make a bid for the 24-year-old in the summer.

“Maybe there will be an offer in the summer. Maybe there won’t. Our position is we want Steven to stay but we are realistic enough and have enough respect for Steven - and he has enough respect for us - to know that it is his decision that will be crucial,” said Parry.

“You are not going to keep a player like Steven against his will.

“That just doesn’t work but any idea we are going to accept offers for Steven and then tell him ‘by the way, we have decided to sell you’ is not on the agenda. You can forget that.”

Parry added: “Steve is above money. He is the future of Liverpool.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s £30million, £40million or £50million, we will not accept offers.

“But we are also realistic enough to know we can’t keep Steven against his will.”

Speaking of Chelsea’s interest in the inspirational midfielder, Parry said: “There have been a lot of open secrets about Steven, most of which have been complete myths.

“It is suggested we had a deal tied up last summer. We never had an offer last summer.

“We had told Chelsea that as far as we were concerned he was not for sale and we didn’t want to sell him.

“In reality it didn’t go beyond that.”

Parry is aware he can only do so much to hold on to his prize asset who made his debut for the Reds in November 1998 before becoming a regular in the following season and scoring his first goal for the club against Sheffield Wednesday.

Gerrard has now become one of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s crown jewels in the England midfield and his creativity and vision was sorely missed when injury - which has been a constant disruption - forced him out of the 2002 World Cup.

His talent has earned him a number of suitors in club football and Parry admits he does not know what the future holds for Gerrard.

It is well known that Gerrard wants to be in a title-winning team and has Champions League aspirations, although his loyalty to the club he joined as a trainee has so far seen him remain with the Reds.

When asked if the midfielder will be at Anfield on the first day of next season, Parry admitted: “I sincerely hope he will be. Steven knows my views. He knows Rafa’s views.

“We have reaffirmed recently to Steven that we are trying to build a team around him.

“We crave success as much as he does. We know he is ambitious and nobody can argue with that.

“We all want to see progress by next season. He is not alone in that.

“There are a lot of other players who feel the same, so we all have a common aim.”

Meanwhile, Harry Kewell has suffered a setback in his bid to regain fitness for the games which could define Liverpool’s season.

The former Leeds winger had hoped to be involved in the weekend clash with Fulham after apparently making good progress in his recovery from an Achilles problem.

But he had to sit out the game, which Liverpool won 3-1, after the injury failed to clear up. And the 26-year-old is unlikely to return to first-team action until next month.

He is now a major doubt for the last-16 Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen on February 22 and the Carling Cup final against Chelsea five days later.

His agent Bernie Mandic confirmed the 26-year-old Australian’s frustration.

Mandic told the Sydney Daily Telegraph: “Harry's struggling a bit but the club are doing everything they can to get him right.

“He's had scans which don't show anything substantial but despite his best efforts at the moment he simply can't shake off the discomfort and get back on the park.

“Harry was desperate to be fit for the Fulham game as part of his plan to play himself in for the Leverkusen match.”

Kewell had forecast a swift return in late January, saying: “I feel like I could jump off the building and land on the next one - I haven't felt this good for a while.”