Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard (43) is moving to Saudi Arabia. The former England soccer international takes over as manager of the Pro-League team Al-Ettifaq. The club announced this.
“A legend that gives Ettifaq a glorious history and an exciting future”, the club tweeted to a picture showing Gerrard in the midst of numerous silver cups.
The portal “The AthleticAccording to this, Gerrard initially rejected an offer after he traveled to Saudi Arabia for talks in June. However, the talks were resumed the previous week.
After world footballers Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr) and Karim Benzema and former world champion N’Golo Kanté (both Al-Ittihad), Gerrard is the next football great to be drawn to the kingdom.
Gerrard had been unemployed since last October when the English Premier League-Club AstonVilla separated from him. Gerrard took over as head coach at Villa in November 2021. Before that he was with the Glasgow Rangers Scottish Champion. He played almost exclusively for the during his professional career Liverpool FC and became a club icon with the “Reds” between 1998 and 2015 with over 500 competitive games and as captain.