Steven Gerrard has been left humiliated by Sevco’s derisory bid for Martin Skrtel.
In a detailed interview with the Daily Record the players agent, Karol Csonto, revealed that once detailed talks got underway Sevco were only able to offer one fifth of the defender’s current salary and no transfer fee to Fenerbahce!
It seems that a combination of magic beans and the glow of working with a former Liverpool youth coach failed to excite Skrtel.
From the day that Gerrard agreed to become the new manager at Ibrox word has gone out that Skrtel was his number one signing target- closely followed by Jermaine Defoe, Lucas Leiva and Fernando Torres.
With the bulk of season tickets sold it’s now time for reality as Gerrard rummages through the bargain basement and tries to get a tune out of the third best squad in Scotland.
Speaking to the Record Csonto revealed: “Steven tried to make it happen but he had no idea about the financial situation of the player. He is trying to get the best players possible and that’s why he spoke to Martin about this but unfortunately it’s going to be impossible.
“Steven spoke to Martin about it before he went to Rangers. Eventually, the chief executives of the clubs did speak about a transfer but they both agreed the difference between them is too much.”
The agent added: “Martin would be very happy to play under Steven Gerrard but sometimes, regarding transfers, you need to put so many things together and in this situation it’s impossible.
“When there is only a small difference then you can find a solution but in this case, the salary of the player in Turkey is four or five times more than what Rangers could offer. That makes it impossible.
“Also, Fenerbahce will never let him go because he is their most important player and they need him for the Champions League qualification. That means at this moment the deal would cost five or six million euros minimum. And, as I told you, the salary is very different.”
So far Director of Football Mark Allen has added Scott Arfield and Allan McGregor to last season’s failures.