Gerrard staying put at Anfield

SOCCER/ FA Premiership News: There was an air of triumph about Anfield yesterday, though the sense of satisfaction was tinged with intense relief. Steven Gerrard is to remain on Merseyside, with Chelsea left to stew in simmering disappointment. "It is a pleasant surprise," said the Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry. "You cannot overstate what this means to the club."

Liverpool needed a piece of positive news. Roman Abramovich's shadow has long hovered over their captain, leaving Parry and his new manager Rafael Benitez fretting as Stamford Bridge-based England team-mates whispered in Gerrard's ear in Portugal and the London club's officials talked up a possible move to the capital. Now, for the moment, the intrigue has been quelled.

There had seemed little prospect of Gerrard ever sitting beside Parry in Anfield's Trophy Room - in which Gerard Houllier had given his farewell press conference only a few weeks earlier - to announce that his future was on Merseyside. But that was the reality yesterday, with the midfielder's admission that "the last three or four weeks have been very confusing" and that there had been "a lot of things going on in my head" betraying the real temptation posed by a transfer to Chelsea.

Abramovich would have offered him up to £125,000-a-week to leave the club whose academy he joined as an eight-year-old. Not that the motivation of a move was purely financial. The Londoners are ready to challenge at the very pinnacle of the Premiership. Liverpool, under Houllier last season, were not, and it remains to be seen whether Benitez can emulate the feat he achieved at Valencia by transforming an underachieving team into title winners.

A player of Gerrard's calibre needs to be challenging at the top of the domestic game, as well as on the continent in the Champions League. Hence his assertion that he had "not been happy with the progress the club has made" and had, for the first time in his six-year professional career, "thought about the possibility of moving on".

"It would have been a big blow had he gone, but we always thought there would be a few twists and turns," said Parry, who must hope Michael Owen is as receptive to a future at Anfield when talks resume over an extension to his contract.

"For his part, Michael is equally ambitious and wants to know what direction the club is going, though this decision will not have done any harm to our chances of keeping him.

"All credit to Steven. We didn't pester him during Euro 2004 and I always thought in my heart that he would stay. I understand how ambitious he is. Rafa is very pleased with this news and, to be honest, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to tell him two days into the job that he could be losing his captain."

Gerrard and Benitez met in Portugal 11 days ago, although the Spaniard departed Lisbon disappointed in the belief he had been unable to draw the midfielder to pledge his future then and there. His powers of persuasion are clearly greater than even he imagined. "We've had four meetings over the course of the last few weeks and in each one Steven has been open and straight," added Parry. "There has been some plain speaking on both sides.

"It's fair to say Steven has had one or two sleepless nights about all this. I've had three or four. But, basically, this decision is Stevie saying: 'I can't move.'"

Sources close to Chelsea admitted last night they had sensed a possible change of heart in Gerrard over the weekend, though the London club will continue to monitor his situation.

Liverpool do not intend to report Chelsea to the Premier League alleging an illegal approach, though their disquiet is clear. The authorities could choose to take action without being prompted, compounding a hugely anticlimactic start for Jose Mourinho's Stamford Bridge reign.

Parry was quick to confirm there had been no "arm-twisting" and no "false promises" given to their captain to persuade him to change his mind. That means Gerrard, and Owen, still expect new faces to be recruited this summer to transform the side.

Negotiations continue with a Thai consortium hoping to invest heavily in the club, and the success of that deal will now determine how much money Benitez has for team strengthening. Yet Chelsea have been rebuffed and optimism rekindled. As Parry added: "This is a great day both for the club and for the fans."