Steven Gerrard has emerged as Real Madrid's top target for next summer. SunSport can reveal Real president Florentino Perez will launch an audacious £30million bid for the Liverpool skipper. A top Madrid source said: "It's no secret Gerrard is a player Perez and technical director Jorge Valdano admire. "There is a shortlist for next season and Gerrard is the first name on it." That will worry Kop fans ahead of tomorrow's titanic clash with arch-rivals Manchester United. And it is certain to pile on the misery for under-fire boss Rafa Benitez, whose side have lost four games on the bounce. Perez has already raided Benitez's team. Last summer, he grabbed midfielder Xabi Alonso in a £28.8m switch. Perez put out feelers for Gerrard in January - even before he returned as Real president - to see if he would be prepared to sign for Madrid. Back then, Gerrard dismissed any talk of leaving Anfield, with Liverpool involved in a tight title race with United. Yet the club's reversal of fortunes could now affect the captain's thinking. Liverpool's demise this season means another year of frustration for Gerrard, 29, who is desperate to lead his beloved club to Premier League glory and end their 20-year hoodoo. The England midfielder, struggling with a groin injury, almost quit Anfield in 2005 when he came within a whisker of joining Chelsea. But he had a last-minute change of heart and snubbed Blues owner Roman Abramovich. Source: The Sun Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2697801/Real-plot-Gerrard-swoop.html#ixzz0Uw84cwG0