Rodgers wants Gerrard as a Liverpool coach when the skipper is done playing…
Brendan Rodgers has told Steven Gerrard that he can have an immediate role on Liverpool’s coaching staff once his playing career ends, reports the Guardian.
Our legendary club captain is currently weighing up his options, after the club offered him an extension on the terms that run out next summer.
Rodgers’ comments indicate that he’s desperate for Gerrard to stay for a few more years yet in a playing capacity, but accepts that the 34-year-old will not be the first name on the team-sheet anymore as he so often has been during his 16 year Liverpool career.
“You get to a stage where you can’t play every minute of every game,” Rodgers said.
“Steven is getting to that point of his career and he will speak about the adjustments he needs to make. I am categorical, I want him to be here, but there is thinking time needed.
“At this moment in time he is still very much a player. That is his concentration. When I see how he trains and works it is still about playing. Maybe there is a role further down the line, to have someone like that beside you in a coaching capacity would be great, but he still has a couple of years to play if he wants to.
“There are many things at this stage he needs to factor in, not just about football. If he ever went away from here then I’m sure there will be a time later on in his life where there will be a role for him back here.”
Gerrard was exceptional last season, but a number of factors have contributed to the skipper being unable to find the same level in 2014/15. Not only have teams harried him in possession which has stopped him from running games from the base of midfield, but he’s not had attackers like Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge making telling runs ahead of him, either.
The skipper’s decision will not be motivated by money, but by what he wants to do for the final years of his career. We’d all love him to retire as a Liverpool player, of course.