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Steven Gerrard will join Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the season in an 18-month deal worth around £4m a year and has described the move to the MLS club as a “match made in heaven”.
Gerrard’s departure will end a 27-year association with Liverpool, with the captain to start playing for Galaxy in July. The franchise has won the Major League Soccer Cup three times in the past four years and Gerrard says he wants to end his career on a winning note.
“The time’s right for myself and my family for the change, for the fresh challenge,” he told the LA Times. “I want to finish my career very strong. I want to add some more medals and trophies to my collection. So I think it’s a match made in heaven. One of the reasons why I chose LA Galaxy was because of the success they’ve had recentlybut also the plans for more success in the future.”
Bruce Arena, the Galaxy coach who has been in charge for the three recent MLStitles, said: “Steven Gerrard arrives in July and by then we will certainly have a plan available. He’s a player of quality. I’m not concerned about how he’s going to fit in. We have a club with a proven history of success. All those things go hand in hand in making LA Galaxy a very attractive team for players such as Steven Gerrard.”
The Galaxy president, Chris Klein, said: “We just started thinking in the universe of players that are out there, we want to make a decision on what signifies a Galaxy-designated player. When we look at that, Steven Gerrard is the perfect fit with what he brings to us on the field and the character that he has off it.”
Confirmation of the deal came after the fallout continued over the manner of Gerrard’s departure from Liverpool. The 34-year-old said he would still be at Anfield next season had the club offered him a contract extension last summer and not in November, by which stage Brendan Rodgers had made clear Gerrard was no longer an automatic selection.
“My injury record had been fantastic for the past two and a half years and I had a great season from a personal point of view last season. It’s all ifs, buts and hindsight now. That period between the summer and the end of November gave me thinking time.“If a contract had been put in front of me in pre-season I would have signed it,” Gerrard told the Liverpool Echo. “I’d just retired from England to concentrate all my efforts on Liverpool. I didn’t want my club games to be tailored.
“There’s no blame and I’m not angry about it. There are other people in the squad and the club had other things to worry about. Liverpool Football Club have been unbelievable for me since I was eight years old. This club has helped me fulfil my dreams over and over again. There is no finger pointing from me towards the manager or anyone else at the club.”
Danny Murphy believes the manner of Gerrard’s departure “stinks”. The former Liverpool and England team-mate of Gerrard told the broadcaster Talksport: “You can only be judged on the season you’ve just played and last season he was terrific. He probably felt he’d warranted a new contract at that point. Liverpool let it get to November or December before they offered him anything.
“In fact, that offer was only triggered by Stevie going out in the press and saying he hadn’t been offered a new deal. That says to me that the club, and Brendan [Rodgers], were already thinking about him moving on.
“Each manager has his own opinion and Brendan is not going to come out and say ‘that was my decision’. It stinks a bit that they treat a player like that. We saw the same thing with Chelsea and Frank Lampard. Clubs say ‘We have offered him a new deal’ but it’s always on reduced wages.
“It’s not how you should treat someone who’s put their all into a club.”
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