Skrtel’s agent confirms talks with Steven Gerrard, but says Rangers money gap will prevent transfer

With reports from Slovakia, Turkey and Scotland sending Martin Skrtel ever closer to Steven Gerrard and Rangers this week, everything has been going in one direction.

What started out as a link seemingly based on the Gerrard connection from Liverpool quickly turned into something more solid, and the Rangers possibility this week became believable.

With Bruno Alves’ age, and David Bates leaving for Hamburg, bringing in Skrtel with all his experience and good attitude made sense, he’d also be a lieutenant for Gerrard at Ibrox.

But now there’s some less positive news. Skrtel’s agent has been speaking to Slovakian television, and Pravda have picked up the comments.

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Karol Csontó is quoted as saying: “Rangers is interested, I personally talked to Steven Gerrard about this possibility. In each transfer, however, it is first and foremost whether the player is leaving, and then financial matters are dealt with. This is not the case here. Martin has sincerely said that it would be his honour to play under Gerard’s leadership for some three years. At the moment, however, complex financial matters are far too far apart to find a compromise.

“The only option for Martin to leave is for a market like China or the US MLS. If it’s interesting for him. If not, he will stay in Fenerbahce.”

Pravda dub Rangers a ‘financially underprivileged Glasgow club’, and it’s explained that Fenerbahce have greater financial strength, meaning Skrtel would have to take a pay cut to join up with Gerrard. As it stands, his agent doesn’t make that sound likely.