Manager Brendan Rodgers opened proceedings with the news that Jordan Henderson had agreed to a new contract extension.
“We’re obviously delighted, we have been talking for a little while now. It’s great news for the football club and for Jordan that he’s going to spend the best part of his career development here at Liverpool. Obviously he is a big part of the plan going forward. So I’m delighted for him, delighted for the club and he can continue with his development.”
Rodgers was also quick to ensure that efforts by the club were still on going to tie up other players.
“I’ve always said that the likes of Jordan and Raheem [Sterling] are very important players for us. Behind the scenes, the club is working very hard to ensure that we sign these types of players.”
“Because if the model is to develop young players, once they have improved and become better it is very important that you then nail them to the club and make sure that they’re going to be here for the best part of their career.”
“That was the case with Jordan. He came in and the club paid big money for him at the time because he had big potential and that potential has developed. He’ll go into the next phase of that, being more responsible and improving his game.”
“For the likes of Raheem, coming into the team and into the squad, his representatives will speak with the club and hopefully get that organised as well.”
When asked if midfielder Jordan Ibe or defender Martin Škrtel were going to be the next players to put pen to paper Rodgers had this to say: “There’s no update on the two boys. Their representatives are speaking with the club but I’ve got no update on it.”
The final run of six games, which starts away to West Brom on Saturday, but plans for the 2015-16 season are already going into action.
“There was obviously a lot of money spent last summer and a lot of players coming in. If you take the emotion out of last weekend, this was a team that probably overachieved last year; we weren’t expected to get into the top four.”
“That same team had a world-class striker in it and someone who was on fire in terms of Daniel Sturridge, who has the potential to be that when fit and playing.”
“That team last year weren’t deemed good enough for the top four, but we went on a great run and nearly won the title. Now with all due respect, we have lost those players.”
“We have brought in some players because we needed to improve the squad and develop the squad. Where we sit now at this moment in time, we sit in fifth place, in the top five and reached two cup semi-finals – it is probably really on par with where we’re at.”
“The ambition is, of course, to be much greater and better than that, so we have to be planning forward. That means bringing in players in the summer and that’s something that’s well underway and we’ll look forward to that.”
“This year was an opportunity and I think next year will be an even greater opportunity for us again to kick on and keep improving.”
The press conference went on to delve into Rodgers’ job security and if he felt he had the boards backing
“Do I expect to be manager next season? Very much so, yes. I don’t think there’s anyone better. That’s the reality of how I see it. Three months ago I was a tactical genius, performing to a good level. We lost a couple of games, some important games, and now you’re not so good. But that is football, that’s what will happen, people will speculate.”
Jurgen Klopp is one of many names that has been linked to the club and when Rodgers was ask about this he had this to say…
“There will always be people linked with this job because it’s such a great club. In my time alone there have been lots of names mentioned.”
“This is a club that’s worldwide so there’s absolutely no problem, it’s something that happens all the time if you lose a couple of games.”
“We’ve had former managers linked here with the job before and that will continue for however long I’m here – whether you’re doing good, bad or indifferent.”
