On the 2nd January 2015 Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard announced his intention to leave Anfield at the end of the 14/15 English Premier League season after a 25 year link to the club he joined at 9 years of age.
After almost 700 appearances and 180 goals the Whiston born Midfielder is not signing the deal offered to him by the club and is moving to a non-competing club will that will not be lining up against his beloved Liverpool in the future, now this leaves a few options for future employment:
- Australian A-league where former Liverpool stars Robbie Fowler and Emile Heskey have done a turn is an option but the A-League wont pay Steven Gerrard level wages
- Qatar Stars League perhaps where Raul played for two seasons, now we all know the Qataris have the cash to fund this move
- MLS where former Anfield teammate (albeit for a short time) Robbie Keane is currently earning a crust
Why would a man who has only ever represented Liverpool give up his one club man status and move to a much poorer league in football terms, thousands miles from home.
Now the rumoured salary of £100K a week is not to be sniffed at and with a rumoured four year deal on the table from LA Galaxy that’s the best part of £20 million that 114 capped Englishman could earn whilst bringing his career to an end across the pond.
NY Red Bulls are rumoured to be interested in Stevie G as the replacement for the recently departed Thierry Henry and with former Red’s boss Gérard Houllier as sporting director he could be significant in getting that deal done.
The question is why move to the MLS?, why walk away from an offer of a new contract, “purely money” would be even the most diehard Gerrard fans response and I’d be hard pushed to disagree but perhaps this isn’t about cash and is about playing abroad and experiencing a different culture and way of life for him, his wife and young family.
Whilst playing in a much less physically demanding league than the Premier League 34 year old Gerrard could easily play there for a couple of years which you would think a top pro like Gerrard would really want, rather than to fade away at Liverpool.
Let’s face it Gerrard was a world class player who single handily dragged Liverpool to countless victories in his time there and has won a Uefa Cup, two FA Cups, three League Cups, one Community Shield and two Uefa Super Cups as well as the 2005 Champions League during that famous night in Istanbul, but his body has taken the punishment for those great achievements and maybe a quiet couple of seasons in LA is just what the Doctor ordered….
Goodbye Stevie the Premier League and Liverpool certainly will miss you…
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