Steven Gerrard faces uphill battle with transfer raid on former club Liverpool

Steven Gerrard faces a major battle to convince Liverpool defender Joe Gomez to leave the Reds for Aston Villa this summer.

Anfield legend Gerrard wants to buy the 24-year-old defender, who will have two years left on his contract this summer. Gomez, who has 11 England caps, would like to play more after just three Premier League starts this term for Liverpool.

But he is part of Liverpool’s quadruple bid and is understood to be unlikely to quit Merseyside for a club such as 15th-placed Villa who cannot offer European football. Gerrard must now hope he can use his charisma and Liverpool links to sway Gomez after previously attracting ex-team-mate Philippe Coutinho on loan in January.

Gerrard did not play competitively with Gomez after leaving in July 2015 a month after the defender joined from Charlton for £3.5million. Gerrard was active in January signing Coutinho, Lucas Digne, Calum Chambers, Robin Olsen and Kerr Smith. He is set to be backed by the club’s ambitious billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens for another spree this summer.

Gerrard said: “A summer window is always the most important window out of the two. Recruitment is important in the summer because I can see this team and this squad taking steps forward. We’re happy where it’s at but the exciting part is what’s to come.

“There’s obviously a summer window and a full pre-season and people that are already in the building being used to us, even more. I think you’ll see huge strides in the coming months.” Villa face a big and expensive decision whether to make Coutinho’s loan permanent using a £33m clause.

Coutinho, 29, scored four goals in his first eight appearances following a January loan switch from Barcelona but has failed to score for five