Morientes stresses need for Gerrard

SOCCER/Liverpool v Manchester Utd: Rafael Benitez might have been forgiven for assuming his week could not be improved but a statement uttered by the latest espanol to migrate to Merseyside will surely have brightened his mood yet further.

"Steven Gerrard is a figurehead at this club," Fernando Morientes said at Anfield via an interpreter. "I'm going to learn English as quickly as possible so I can tell him to stay."

Liverpool enter this afternoon's fiercely anticipated contest with Manchester United buoyed by more than just another multimillion-pound signing. There is a sense that Morientes's arrival - after weeks of negotiations and with interest from Newcastle, Monaco and Lyon deflected - represents the turning of the tide.

This is a sign of renewed ambition which could yet persuade Gerrard that his future lies in these parts.

The Spanish striker was settling in to new surroundings yesterday, the glitz of Real Madrid long gone as he sauntered through the drizzle of his first training session with his new team-mates at Melwood.

Short of match fitness he may be, having long been reduced to a bit-part role at the Bernabeu, but Benitez will turn to him against United this lunchtime, not least to exploit the 28-year-old's remarkable record as a scoring debutant.

Liverpool are the fifth club of his career and he has plundered on his first appearances for Albacete, Real Zaragoza, Real Madrid and Monaco. There were also debut goals for the Spanish Under-18s and Under-20s, with a brace in the opening five minutes of his first senior cap against Sweden six years ago.

"Those are the goals I most cherish, but to score against United would equal that feeling," he said. "I know this is a massive game for Liverpool as a club, a match which is right up there with Real Madrid against Barcelona.

"It would be the perfect game with which to start. From the first moment I found out that Liverpool were interested in me, this was always going to be the club I wanted to join. This was an easy decision." Others are grateful.

"It's exactly the kind of signing we need," said Gerrard. "If you ask any of the fans about the calibre of player they want us to be bringing to the club, he would be it. I feel the same way. You know you're not taking a risk.

"It's good from a symbolic point of view that we've signed someone who's so renowned as a world-class player. I just hope, after all the success he's had and trophies he's won, he's as hungry to do the same for us."

Morientes's reputation precedes him. He was squeezed out of Madrid by politics rather than any lack of ability, his place usurped by the galacticos under Florentino Perez's presidency.

"With his policy it was difficult to get into the line-up," he said. "You can just sit back and accept it but I'm not like that. If the team is victorious, I want to go home happy. If the team loses then I want to feel disappointed with them. You have to experience the joy and the despair of being involved rather than just sitting on the bench on the outside looking in.

"Every day the whole world is on top of you at Real. It's so intense. But here you are at an equally big club but you can get on with the football. I'm aware of the status Liverpool have, and the fact that they're always up there challenging for honours and competing to get into the Champions League was so important."

Benitez had first attempted to sign Morientes as part of the deal that took Michael Owen to Real last August, only for the player to pledge his future to the then coach Jose Camacho.

The latter's departure consigned Morientes back to the wilderness, with contact between Liverpool and his agent Gines Carvajal resuming in December. Even so, only prolonged negotiations persuaded Real to accept £6.3 million for the forward, with his other suitors prepared to pay more.

"I spoke to Jamie Carragher the other day and he was like 'Is he coming? Is he coming'?" said Owen. "He was anxious to get another top-class player in. They have bought [ Xabi] Alonso already and now Morientes, a couple of world-class players, and if they get a couple more they will be back in their rightful position, challenging for the Premiership." Liverpool, and Morientes, will be hoping that much.