Official Liverpool síðan birtir athyglisvert viðtal við Rick Parry, þar sem hann tjáir sig um Michael Owen og Steven Gerrard.

Parry lýsir því fyrst yfir að hann sé vongóður um að Owen skrifi undir samning, enda telji hann að Owen vilji vera áfram hjá liðinu. Athyglisverð eru kommentin um Steven Gerrard:

“[Gerrard] phoned me last Saturday and it was a fairly emotional phone call. He said he needed to see me and we arranged a one-to-one for the Sunday. It was very clear from the telephone conversation that his heart was very much set on staying with us despite what his head had been telling him. So I must admit that during the phone call I was very hopeful and then on the Sunday, he confirmed that he wanted to stay and was committed to helping us to win trophies.”

Essentially, he’d expressed his frustration at the end of the season that 4th wasn’t good enough. Fourth wasn’t good enough for us either so we were at least on the same wavelength. It’s very clear that he’s a man in a hurry. He’s impatient. He wants success. There’s no doubt he wants to win trophies with Liverpool but at the same time, he wants to win trophies full stop. I think it was a case of can we compete?

“I think he was very close to going and at one point, I think he had decided to go. I’m sure of that and I don’t suppose he reached that decision just by reading newspapers so I’ve no doubt there were all sorts of conversations. With other clubs, yes. 

Og að lokum:

“I thought we were doing our bit to persuade him that things were going to get better. He was and is excited by our choice of manager. He’s met with Rafa and spoken subsequently. I think we’re all fired up and really looking forward to the start of the season as, of course, are the supporters. I think Rafael is a great appointment. He was our No.1 target and very much meets the criteria of what we are after.