Reports from the Turkish media Hurriyet suggests that Fenerbahce could look to tie down Martin Skrtel for the next two seasons by offering him a new contract. Earlier, as reported by the Daily Record, CNN Turkey claimed that Steven Gerrard had yet not given up on signing his former Liverpool team-mate and could once again chance his arm to land him in January.
Various reports in summer did the round that Gerrard was keen on Skrtel but the defender’s agent Karol Csontó claimed that in terms of wages both the parties were ‘terribly far apart’.
Now, this latest news of Fenerbahce looking to extend the defender’s deal further doesn’t bode well for the Gers. Skrtel is already 33 and is in the final phase of his career so he might be tempted to play for a side which can offer him better wages. However, on the other hand, the Slovakian has a chance to play under his former captain.
Gerrard brought in 4 new centre-halves in the summer after he let go of the likes of Bruno Alves, Fabio Cardoso, David Bates and Russell Martin. Gareth McAuley and Joe Worrall are only going to be at Glasgow up until the end of the season so one can understand why the manager could once again be keen on a defender in January.
With the pay parity, Skrtel is most likely to stick with Fenerbahce if the Turkish giants offer him a new two-year deal. To play for Rangers, he is likely going to take a massive pay cut, and the defender needs to think carefully about his future as his next contract could very well be the final contract of his playing days.
Even at this stage of his career, Skrtel is the mainstay of his side’s defence and has been one of the better performers at the club even though the team has performed poorly so far this campaign as they sit 13th in their domestic league.
Fenerbahce kept a price tag of £5m (Daily Record) on the defender, and we believe paying that kind of amount for a 33-year-old doesn’t make much sense. Gerrard should probably look at other young options if the Turkish giants are not willing to reduce the prize.
We might see the Bears put a priority on other positions as well as until the next season; they have four decent enough centre-halves in the form of Gareth McAuley, Joe Worrall, Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson. So Gerrard can probably wait to sign a defender. As for Skrtel, he should accept a new two-year deal as offered by the Turkish heavyweights as that is what makes the most sense at this point in his career. All in all, missing out on the defender would not be the biggest blow for Rangers and Gerrard at the moment.
