Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Manuel Pellegrini has said he would be interested in signing Steven Gerrard should the Liverpool captain leave Anfield.
The Manchester City manager’s gamble on taking Frank Lampard – who at 36 is two years older than Gerrard – to the Etihad Stadium has reaped significant dividends.
If Liverpool cannot agree a new contract with Gerrard, it is a move Pellegrini may be tempted to repeat.
He said: “I don’t ever rate players on their age. It depends on the money they cost and the number of years they have left on their contract but, like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard is a top player who can continue at a high level for a number of years.”
Gerrard has said that whether or not Liverpool offer him a new deal, he intends to play on after his contract expires in June.
If he were to move then, it would be on a free transfer and not affected by the Financial Fair Play restrictions that cost City the chance of signing both Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao, who joined neighbours Manchester United.
Pellegrini said: “We could not do the loan with Falcao because we did not have the space for him in our Champions League squad. The amount of money for this loan (Monaco demanded a fee of around €12m) was also too much when you had the Financial Fair Play behind you. But I don’t think we should have regrets about what we did in the summer. We did very well because we did all we could.”
Pellegrini takes City into his third Manchester derby, having won the first two by a collective score of 7-1. He argued that City now deserved to be recognised as Manchester’s leading club.
“If you just go by the success of the last few years, this team has won two of the last three titles and was runner-up for the other,” he said. “Manchester United has a lot of history and won an important amount of titles but maybe football is (judged) in the present. I am very happy to be the favourites.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments