Steven Gerrard will commit to a new long-term contract at Liverpool at the end of the season after admitting he has "never been happier" throughout his career, with the England midfielder convinced that Rafael Benítez can help wrest domestic dominance from Manchester United.
The 28-year-old has two years to run on his current £110,000-a-week contract and, while talks have yet to begin on an extension, they are pencilled in for the summer when a new four-year deal is expected.
Gerrard suggested negotiations should swiftly reach resolution. The Liverpool captain has been in outstanding form playing a free role behind Fernando Torres in recent weeks, scoring in the four-goal routs of Real Madrid and United, with a hat-trick in Sunday's 5–0 demolition of Aston Villa.
He will follow Benítez in committing his future to the club, with both the long-serving Jamie Carragher and much coveted Torres also expected to agree new terms as Liverpool seek to tie their key performers to long-term deals. "I'm really happy at the club at the moment," said Gerrard. "I've got two years left on my contract. If there was a chance to extend that, I'm sure I'd do it. I've never been happier than I am at the moment throughout my career because I'm playing in a top team, I'm playing with world-class players and I believe the manager that, going forward, we can be successful."
The favourable conclusion to Benítez's own protracted negotiations – the manager signed a new deal to run until 2014 last week after five months of occasionally acrimonious talks between his lawyers and the club's American owners – has strengthened Gerrard's determination to remain at Anfield despite mooted interest from Internazionale and Real Madrid to tempt him with a move to the continent. The midfielder described his manager as "a winner" yesterday and still hopes Liverpool's thirst for a first league title since 1990 could be quenched in May.
United's successive defeats have left them only a point clear at the top, albeit with a game in hand, to suggest momentum is currently with Liverpool. That belief has merely been strengthened by the ill-discipline that has crept into the champions' performances and by Sir Alex Ferguson's recent public outbursts criticising Benítez, with United apparently unnerved by unexpected setbacks against the Merseysiders at Old Trafford and at Fulham on Saturday.
In contrast Liverpool are a team revived after enduring their own stutter at the turn of the year. "There's a good feeling around the place at the moment," added Gerrard, who should make his first appearance for England in six months against Slovakia on Saturday. "It's important not to get carried away. United are still favourites. If they win their game in hand, they're four points ahead, a decent lead at this stage of the season. But confidence is high, the momentum is with us. We have to focus on what we're doing and, if they have another slip up, we have to capitalise on it.
"My relationship with Rafa has got stronger as time's gone by. Maybe when I was a bit younger I was a bit selfish, thinking of myself a bit too much when he was playing me out of position [on the right of midfield]. I should have maybe taken a deep breath and realised he was asking me to do that for the team. But, at the moment, he's playing me in my favourite position, I'm captain, we're winning. Things at the club are really good.For years and years I've moaned about not being involved in a title race and being far away from the other teams. But at the moment I'm playing in a team that's capable of beating anyone in the league. I'm settled, I'm happy. Things on the pitch couldn't be better."
