Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard Poised to Sign New 2-Year Deal for Anfield Club

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard has agreed a new two-year deal with the Anfield club, according to a report by Chris Bascombe of the Daily Telegraph.

The England international is now expected to sign the new contract before the team sets off on a preseason tour of Australia and the Far East this week.

The Anfield captain's new contract will keep him at the club until 2015 and beyond his 35th birthday.

The news will come as a bonus for Liverpool supporters following the loss of experienced defender Jamie Carragher, who retired at the end of last season.

Gerrard, 33, has been a mainstay and talisman of the Liverpool team since becoming a first-team regular during the 1999-2000 Premier League season.

And his desire to stay can be viewed in sharp contrast to the current situation involving Luis Suarez, who has openly declared his desire to leave the club this summer, as the Daily Telegraph among many media outlets have reported.

However, the Uruguay international is not the only significant figure to ask for an exit from Anfield, with Fernando Torres joining Chelsea in a £50 million deal in January 2011 after handing in an official transfer request, as Jason Burt of the Daily Telegraph noted.

It would be remiss not to mention Gerrard's own link with Chelsea in the summer of 2005, as BBC Sport reported, but whatever the reasons that lay behind the player's decision to stay, his aptitude and work ethic for Liverpool have never wavered.

Prior to the 2005 link with Chelsea, Gerrard had been viewed as the single most influential figure in the Liverpool side that won the Champions League eight years ago.

With the Reds trailing 3-0 to AC Milan at halftime in Istanbul, the captain took the fight to the Serie A club in the second period, as Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph noted in his match report.

For the current Liverpool side, the extension of Gerrard's deal will be a crucial factor as manager Brendan Rodgers attempts to force the Reds back into the Champions League.

Gerrard may not be quite the player he once was as he enters veteran status, but his experience, determination and winning mentality will be vital factors.

Rodgers has already made several new signings this summer with Simon Mignolet, Iago Aspas, Kolo Toure and Luis Alberto swelling his first-team ranks.

But the commitment of Gerrard to the Liverpool cause for a further two years may prove to be the most important ahead of the new campaign.