March 7, 2010
Jamie Carragher: I’ll quit Anfield if I must
Liverpool's Jamie Carragher walks off the pitch dejected after the final whistle
JAMIE CARRAGHER, the epitome of a one-club servant in football, has revealed
he would not hesitate to walk away from his beloved Liverpool should his
employers express any doubts about keeping him when contract negotiations begin
this summer.
Leaving Anfield is almost the last thing Carragher wants to do but he would
take the decision if he had to. While a number of senior players at Anfield have
been offered new contracts, Carragher, who turned 32 five weeks ago, has been
told to wait. He accepts the club’s position but is ready to leave as a last
resort. “It’s up to the club, isn’t it? I play my football and I’ve got 12
months left in the summer,” Carragher told The Sunday Times.
“The club will give me a new contract if they want to. If not it doesn’t
matter, I’ll still play my best and if I have to move then I’ll move, no
problem. It wouldn’t bother me.”
Liverpool can expect a decisive response if they indicate that Carragher’s
time is up. He said: “It wouldn’t bother me. I made the England decision [to
retire from international football] quickly and didn’t dwell on it, and I’m not
scared of making big decisions. It’s a club thing. It’s down to them. I’ll keep
playing and see where it takes me.”
Carragher’s ruminations on his future are influenced by Liverpool’s decision
to put off contract extension talks until the summer, when there will be just 12
months left on his current deal. The manager, Rafael Benitez, says that is
because of Carragher’s age but, unlike at Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea,
Liverpool do not have a club policy limiting the contracts offered to
thirtysomething players.
Carragher would much rather stay but wants to remain a first-team regular. He
has no interest in getting phased out into a bit-part player in his early
thirties or becoming an ageing footballer clinging to status at a club that once
relied on him.
Benitez reiterated his stance during the week, while advancing with talks
over significant contract extensions for Pepe Reina, 27, and Javier Mascherano,
25. In the past nine months lucrative new contracts have been agreed with Steven
Gerrard, 29, Dirk Kuyt, 29, Fernando Torres, 25, and Daniel Agger, 25.
Carragher joined Liverpool on schoolboy forms 18 years ago, though his
association with the club extends back over two decades and he has played a
record number of games for the club in Europe.
A few days ago Simon Kjaer, 20, the Palermo centre-back tracked by Manchester
United, Manchester City and Tottenham this season, suggested he could be moving
to Liverpool in the next transfer window. Palermo are looking for £20m for
Kjaer, who partners Agger for Denmark.
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