Dirk vows to stay at Anfield

Dirk Kuyt today promised Liverpool fans a bright, new future as he reaffirmed his commitment to the club.

Having been the subject of intense interest from Inter Milan during the past week, the Holland international - who scored the decisive goal in last night's 2-1 win over Trabzonspor - has pledged his future to Anfield.

Kuyt was well aware that he had an opportunity to move to the San Siro but after talks with Liverpool's hierarchy and manager Roy Hodgson, he received the assurances for which he had been looking.

Now Kuyt is determined to help the Reds move forward and believes his quest to finally added to his medal collection can reach fulfilment on Merseyside.

"A lot of things have been said, so I don't really want to say too much on the subject," Kuyt explained. "But my future is at Liverpool - I have had four great years at the club.

"Unfortunately we haven't won any trophies but hopefully we will in the future. The point for me is that I am 30 and all I wanted to know was if there was any interest from any club.

"The club spoke to me and explained everything to me. One of the things they said was that I am really important to the club and that makes me a very proud person.
"It makes me believe I can do good things here. I kept my head focused but there was talk. The problem these days is that if my agent says something in Dutch, it gets translated differently.

"Some media in Holland wrote that I was already on my way but that never was the case. It's very satisfying that key people at the club and the manager want me to stay."

Kuyt pounced from close range in the 88th minute to complete a dramatic turnaround for Hodgson's men and give the club its first success in Turkey.

Liverpool had appeared to be on the brink when trailing to Teofilo Gutierrez's fourth-minute opener but a doughty second half display saw them progress to the Europa League group stages.

Most important of all, though, it gave Liverpool - who were without six key first team players - a sense of confidence again following the 3-0 defeat they suffered at Manchester City on Monday.

"I think the future will be okay," Kuyt said. "These days it is difficult and there are more and more cubs trying to challenge for the top four.

"With one or two more new players, everything looks much better. I know everyone was speaking after the defeat in Manchester but one game doesn't change things.

"We knew it was going to be a tough night and I thought they had a great crowd. They made it difficult for us and the pitch was very heavy.

"But we stayed organised, we worked really hard and we kept patient for the chances. We were always confident we would get one goal to get through to the group stages."

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.