During the Summer it seemed certain that Steven Gerrard was set to leave Liverpool for Chelsea and the player has admitted he did come close to leaving the club he has supported his entire life.
In the end though, Gerrard decided to stay at Anfield and this week he confirmed that it was the appointment of Rafael Benitez that convinced him Liverpool could again challenge for honours.
"It was basically down to the last couple of seasons at Liverpool," said Gerrard this week. "They weren't good enough, for me personally or for the club. I was frustrated, being out of the title race by January or February. That's not what the club want to be involved in and not what I want to be involved in.
"Everyone linked me with Chelsea and assumed that was where I was going but to be honest there were three or four good clubs knocking on my agent's door. It wasn't a case of definitely going to Chelsea if I did leave, it was a case of sitting down and discussing the possibility of me moving to a different club.
"I've worked with [Benitez] now for about six weeks and I've been very impressed. Tactically, he's very good. I'm starting to realise why he has been so successful at Valencia, with not too much money to spend.
"Given a little bit of time he can have this Liverpool side maybe not playing like Valencia, because it's a completely different team, but I think we will be a team that's going to be hard to beat. I think he will definitely improve things. That was the main factor on me deciding to stay. He thinks this team are playing to 60 per cent [of their capacity] and he thinks he can take the team up a lot more. I agree with him."
