Gerrard: Liverpool must invest now to catch United
Sunday, 18 May 2008 11:17
Gerrard wants to see more investment this summer
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Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says the club must invest now if they are to catch Manchester United and Chelsea and mount a realistic challenge for the title.
Gerrard says he is sick of getting to November or December and finding that they are already without a real chance of winning the Premier League.
It has been 18 years since the Reds last won the title after decades of dominance in the 1970s and 80s.
Speaking to the News of the World, Gerrard said: "It hurts more and more when we get to November or December every season and have to accept we're out of the title race again. Every year seems to be following the same routine."
Gerrard insists the only way to redress the situation is to back manager Rafael Benitez in the transfer market immediately – rather than buying some players now and then waiting until the January window to get other reinforcements.
He explained: "The manager asks for more support in the transfer market in January, while we're all saying to ourselves this should have happened the previous summer. The time to act is now, not in January when we're already too far behind."
Gerrard cited the example of striker Fernando Torres, claiming that finding a few high-quality players could help have a significant effect on their title chances.
He said: "You can see what Fernando Torres added to our team this season. He made a big difference."
Gerrard conceded that the amount of money spent on Torres could not be spent on every player, but felt it was more important to find the right player and bring him in early rather than the transfer fee paid.