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We are, officially, witnessing the end of Steven Gerrard's Liverpool career.
Steven Gerrard is set to announce that he will leave Liverpool at the end of this season. MLS is his most likely destination.
— Tony Barrett (@TonyBarretTimes) January 1, 2015
This follows an earlier rumor from Italy implying much the same thing. The official announcement is expected to come tomorrow.
This news is.... heavy. It's not entirely unexpected, but it does hit awfully hard. Gerrard is, almost without question, the best Liverpool player to ever pull on the shirt. It'd be one thing if he was retiring outright, but to see Liverpool's longest-tenured captain play in another shirt will be strange, to say the least.
What team he moves to is uncertain. The rumor de jour is a move to the Los Angeles Galaxy, who need to replace the newly retired Landon Donovan. That club has been a juggernaut in MLS, winning three of the last four MLS Cup titles and five overall. Of course, he could also join New York City FC, who just lost Frank Lampard to Manchester City for the foreseeable future... assuming they ever actually signed him at all, a point that seems murky at best right now.
Regardless, this is the end of an era. We knew he'd leave eventually, riding off in to the sunset, but right now... right now it just feels weird.