Reports making the rounds suggest that Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard could be returning to management in the Saudi Pro League.
Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa in October 2022 for Unai Emery, a decision that paid off for the Villans. He has been out of a job since then with no reports on any interested clubs. He has also kept out of the media in that time, with some suggesting that he is weighing his options. Now, a return to the management scene looks close with a number of clubs including one from Saudi Arabia, which looks set to be his next destination.
This is according to online publication Reuters which cites a source close to Gerrard as saying, “Al Ettifaq made an offer to Gerrard. He welcomed the idea, but asked for time to study the offer.”
Gerrard has also been offered jobs at Leeds United and Leicester City ahead of the new season but has not considered any of them, as insinuated by the source. It can be inferred that he is looking to follow the same path he did when he first veered into management which is going to a lesser league to build his managerial skills before coming to a bigger league with more media scrutiny and player power.
Al Ettifaq, meanwhile, are opting to go the manager route when it comes to bringing in football superstars to the Saudi Pro League. Al Nassr, who finished in second place in the Saudi Pro League last season, began the movement by signing Cristiano Ronaldo in December 2022. Al Ittihad, the league champions, signed Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema ahead of the upcoming 2023/24 season and brought in 2018 FIFA World Cup winner N’Golo Kante to bolster their midfield.
All of these signings are for the long-term goal of bolstering their football environment as they bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, following Qatar as the second Middle Eastern and the third Asian nation to host the global showpiece.
Should Gerrard choose to go to Al Ettifaq, who finished seventh on the log in the just-concluded season, he will also add to the profile of the league. He will also have the uphill task of displacing the superstar-laden Al Ittihad and Al Nassr at the top of the Saudi Pro League table.
Leeds, meanwhile, have announced that they are now under new ownership. Gerrard will be their first major signing if he chooses to join them instead of Al Ettifaq or Leicester City and journalist Ryan Taylor has come out to claim that he is an unpopular choice among the club’s fans.
