Gerrard told he must hand in transfer request

Gerrard has not yet asked to leave but has indidcated he wants a move to Chelsea. However, as he has no release clause in his contract Liverpool will force him to make clear the decision to quit Merseyside was his alone.

Rick Parry said last night: "We've done our part of the bargain with Stevie by bringing in the best coach around.

"We won't fall out with him but we're not going to make it easy for him to leave.

"With Stevie we know it's just a passion to win titles. You can't knock that, all you can say is, hang on Stevie, we're with you on that.

"I would still hope he'd think about it more deeply. He has his relationship with the fans to think about.

"We still hope we can persuade him to stay, because you'd like to think that medals at Liverpool mean more to him than medals elsewhere."