Liverpool duo sign new deals

Liverpool's England duo Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have signed new contracts with the club.

Club captain Gerrard and vice-skipper Carragher have signed deals which extend their stay at Anfield until at least 2011.

Carragher told the club's official website: "I am very pleased. Obviously we are both local lads and I've always said I wanted to stay here for the rest of my career. Hopefully I've got one more (contract) left in me that will take me until the end of my career. That's the aim anyway."

Gerrard added: "I'm really pleased too. The negotiations have gone really smoothly.

"Although they have been spoken about for a couple of weeks, I think it's happened pretty quickly. I'm just pleased to get it out of the way and we look forward to next season now. Hopefully over the next four years we can deliver a lot more trophies."

The pair have spent their entire professional careers at Anfield and Rafael Benitez and American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have all stated their desire to tie the homegrown pair to long-term deals.

England midfielder Gerrard is now hoping the Reds can go on to the next level and transfer their excellent European record of late onto the domestic scene and be regular challengers to Manchester United and Chelsea for the title over the four years of his and Carragher's new contract.

The skipper added: "I think these are exciting times at the football club with the takeover and the new stadium. We have both signed for four years and I am sure they are going to be four exciting years.

"I don't see why we can't go from strength to strength and win a load more trophies, not just the Premiership but more cups as well. Having said that, we can't get away from the fact that the Premiership is the one we want."