Steven Gerrard appears to confirm Emre Can's imminent exit from Liverpool in the summer

KEY POINTS

Emre Can has just four and a half months to run on his contract with Liverpool.
The German midfielder has been linked with a free transfer to Juventus.

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has appeared to confirm that Emre Can will leave the Anfield outfit when his contract expires in the summer.

Juventus have been on the trail of the Reds midfielder since last summer and the Italian club's president Giuseppe Marotta made it clear in January that they will do everything to convince Can to join the Turin-based club.

The Germany international is out of contract at the end of the season and while the Reds are desperate to keep hold of him, he is yet to agree to a new deal with Liverpool. He is free to talk to interested clubs and agree a pre-contract to join them when his deal expires on 30 June.

Reports during the January transfer window suggested that Can had already reached an agreement with Juventus, but the midfielder dismissed speculation and confirmed that he had not yet signed with any club but indicated that talk were in progress.

Gerrard, who is currently employed as the coach of the Liverpool Under-19 side, was working as a television pundit with BT Sport when he let slip that Can was off in the summer. Liverpool, however, have already secured a replacement in Naby Keita, who will arrive from Red Bull Leipzig in the summer.

"You have to wait to see what's going to happen because Emre Can is leaving and (Naby) Keita is coming in as a number eight," Gerrard said, as quoted by The Sun.

The former Reds midfielder was covering Liverpool's Champions League last 16 games against Porto on Wednesday night. Jurgen Klopp's team all but sealed their progress to the quarter-finals with a 5-0 thrashing of the Portuguese side and Gerrard reserved special praise for Jordan Henderson.

The Liverpool icon believes Henderson will be better suited higher up the pitch rather than the deep-lying midfielder's role he is currently being played in by the German coach.

"He is capable of opening up a defence. He's doing a decent job as a number 6 but for me he's at his best running forward," Gerrard explained, as quoted by the Mirror.