Former Tottenham and Barcelona boss Terry Venables believes Liverpool should consider selling Steven Gerrard.

In his column for The Sun, Venables wrote: "I fear the only way he may now be able to save the club he joined as a nine-year-old lad is by... and whisper it quietly in the red half of Merseyside... leaving Anfield.

"I realise this will not be the consensus on the Kop, where their captain is rightly revered for the accomplishments and the loyalty he has shown his hometown club in the 12 years since he made his first-team debut.

"And I am not advocating that he should jump what, this season, has turned out to be a sinking ship.

"I just recognise selling Gerrard may be a viable way to get Liverpool out of the mess in which they currently find themselves. Out of the Premier League title race, out of the Champions League, out of the FA Cup and out of the Carling Cup, Rafa Benitez's team are currently sixth in the table and face a desperate scrap even to finish in the top four this time around.

"A squad which does not score enough goals and relies too heavily on its two talismen, Gerrard and Fernando Torres, is in clear need of an overhaul. You might think it bizarre, then, to consider getting rid of one the best players of this or any other team.

"And I agree that, not so long ago, the idea of selling Gerrard would have been unthinkable. But these are drastic times at Anfield - and drastic times call for drastic measures."