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Gerrard set for one-year Liverpool deal extension talks

Steven Gerrard could not prevent Liverpool losing to Chelsea at Anfield on Saturday © Getty Images

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Liverpool are set to begin formal talks to extend captain Steven Gerrard's contract later this week.

Chief executive Ian Ayre is to meet Struan Marshall, Gerrard's representative, in a bid to sort out a new deal, sources have told ESPN.

Gerrard's current contract expires at the end of this season, and he would be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a club abroad in January if no extension was agreed.

Gerrard, 34, indicated in an interview last week that he would leave Anfield to continue his playing career elsewhere if Liverpool did not offer him a new deal.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini then hinted that he may be interested in signing the midfielder if he became available.

Manager Brendan Rodgers stated publicly in the days that followed that he wanted to keep the former England captain, who made his first-team debut for Liverpool in 1998.

And it is expected that Gerrard, who retired from international football in July in an attempt to prolong his club career, will be offered a one-year extension, which would commit him to Liverpool until June 2016.

Rodgers said he believed Gerrard still had plenty to offer as a player at Anfield, and that plans for a contract extension were not driven by sentiment.

"It's certainly not sentimental. As a manager, you can't afford to do that, " Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo. "I just look at his contribution in the two-and-a-half years I've been here.

"When I came in [from Swansea in June 2012], Steven was 32, had struggled with injury, hadn't played consistently over a number of years and I came in and sold him the idea, the philosophy of how we wanted to work and his importance. In that period, he's been absolutely outstanding."

This article originally appeared on ESPNFC.com

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