Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard opens up over Chelsea transfer and Rafa Benitez problems

Rangers: Gerrard addresses fines for players following breach

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Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has revealed his thinking behind nearly swapping life on Merseyside for London when Chelsea tried to sign him in 2005.

The Rangers manager was in the peak of his powers, leading the Reds to a Champions League trophy in the same year.

But when the Blues came calling, Gerrard had his head turned and a transfer was on the cards.

Considering the rivalry between the two and the affiliation that the midfielder had with the Anfield club, a deal seemed preposterous.

However, it emerged that Gerrard had handed in a transfer request in a bid to move to west London.

A transfer never went through, in the end, and the 40-year-old has admitted Rafa Benitez came into his thinking – insisting he thought the money would be used to give Liverpool a massive financial boost.

In June 2020, he told Gary Neville on Sky Sports Soccer Box: “I regret the little bit of flirting back then and how that all blew up.

“The fact is I didn’t know whether I was coming or going with Rafa at the time.

“Rafa was having conversations with me like ‘I know your agent is talking to Real Madrid and Chelsea’.

“I got a paranoid feeling at the time that Rafa would have taken money to try and build Liverpool on.

“Chelsea bid £37.5m. At the time, massive amounts of dough but what would you get for that now?”

Neville joked back: “Half a Fred!”

Gerrard added: “[Jose] Mourinho was a massive part of that. A lack of maturity on my part allowed me to think about it and flirt with that idea a bit.

“But now I have no regrets at all because Liverpool are the club I love – and that’s the way it should be.”

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