Liverpool, Newcastle, or Celtic? Steven Gerrard Mulls Future

Steven Gerrard’s time at LA Galaxy officially ended this week, and with it, the player’s future is up in the air. It appears one thing is certain: that his immediate future will still involve football in some way. Exactly what way that is, though, is an open question.

The strongest links in recent weeks have involved the potential for Gerrard to reunite with former manager Brendan Rodgers at Celtic as they push for the title in the Scottish Premier League. It would offer the player a chance to go out on a high at a club he has in the past admitted he has a fondness for.

The second option has been to retire and join Liverpool’s academy coaching staff. A playing role at Liverpool is by all accounts not on the table, which means he would only return to the Reds immediately if he retired—and if he retires, a return to the Reds seems a near certainty.

If he doesn’t retire or head to Celtic, though, a third option has appeared over the past few days: Newcastle United. Gerrard was said to be reluctant to return to England as it could mean competing against Liverpool at some point in the spring.

A move to Newcastle on a six-month deal, giving him a chance to reunite with another former manager in Rafa Benitez and to potentially help Newcastle win the Championship and earn promotion back to the Premier League, makes for an intriguing possibility at the very least.

For Liverpool fans, though, the most intriguing possibility might just be a potential return to Anfield in a coaching role, something that Goal’s Melissa Reddy reports would only happen if both the club and player believed there would be a long-term future for him at the club as a coach.

Neither player nor club would have any interest in bringing him back immediately following his retirement to fill a figurehead or ambassadorial role, and it is likely that were he to return he would begin his coaching career at the club working under Steve Heighway in some capacity.

Whether he returns to Liverpool now, though, isn’t something fans will know about for at least a few weeks as Gerrard and his family plan on taking a brief vacation following the end of the MLS season before he decides what to do with his immediate future.