TIME TO BUY FINISHED PRODUCT SAYS THE BOSS.. Brendan Rodgers has warned Liverpool’s owners that Steven Gerrard’s exit means it’s time to splash the cash. In the space of 18 months, the Reds have seen Jamie Carragher retire, Luis Suarez depart for Barcelona and Gerrard announce that he is leaving the club he joined as a nine-year-old. Rodgers rejected suggestions that the club could have done more to keep their iconic skipper at Anfield beyond his 35th birthday in May – although fans will be stunned by the manager’s admission that Gerrard was NOT offered a role on the coaching staff. But Liverpool’s owners are sure to come under scrutiny over why it took until November to offer the former England skipper a new contract. And Rodgers himself cranked up the pressure on John W Henry and his Boston-based Fenway Sports Group when he admitted that money is now needed to buy world-class players. “A large part of our squad is young players but there’s no doubt that if you want to take steps forward, you need to sign ready-made players,” said Rogers, who saw the club invest the £75million raised on the sale of Suarez in the summer on a clutch of signings with potential. “The model at the football club is clear in that the owners want to bring in young players in order to develop and create them into world class players. “Of course, that can be a longer and more difficult process. It is certainly something I know the owners look at. They know that not every player can be a developer. “If you’re going to keep progressing, you also need those ready-made players.” Liverpool lavished £113m on signing Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Lazar Markovic, Mario Balotelli, Alberto Moreno, Emre Can and Divock Origi. The recruitment policy has failed to deliver, with Liverpool unable to build on the optimism created by last season’s title near-miss. The Reds are currently languishing in eighth place in the Premier League and have been eliminated from the Champions League. Liverpool also spent heavily to persuade Daniel Sturridge to sign a new incentivised contract worth a potential £150,000-a-week, while Raheem Sterling is expected to follow suit by signing a massive deal at the end of the month. That has left supporters feeling it was a dereliction of duty for the owners and chief executive Ian Ayre to fail to secure the future of a player who is regarded as the greatest in the club’s glorious history. Talks with Gerrard did not commence until November. And Rodgers’ revelation that no offer was made to the midfielder for a job on his coaching staff will add to the fans’ dismay. Rodgers said: “Steven has an ambassadorial role in his contract here but, at this moment in time, there wasn’t a coaching offer made to him. “It wasn’t part of the conversations because Steven hasn’t got his badges, and he isn’t the type who will just go into coaching blind. “He is very thoughtful. He is a thinker of the game. His focus was very much in the present - which means playing because he still believes he can play beyond this season. “Steven knows that once he has finished with playing there will be plenty of time for him to go into coaching if that’s so string he wants to do. “Certainly for me, if I was still the manager here when that time comes, he would be someone who would be great on my staff.” Rodgers added: “I can only talk from the conversations I’ve had with Steven and he’s never felt unhappy. I have not been party to whatever has gone on with the club and his agents, but we wanted to keep him at the club. “I still wanted Steven to very much be a part of what I was doing at the club. But it went on and on and nothing was agreed. The timeline moved on and it gave Steven more thinking time.”
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 10:40:34 +0000
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