Gerrard to leave Liverpool at end of season
Print Edition
STEVEN Gerrard, who announced his departure from boyhood club Liverpool yesterday, is a player destined to be remembered as much for his extraordinary achievements as for his agonising near-misses.
Gerrard has made 695 appearance and scored 180 goals for Liverpool after joining the club as an eight-year-old schoolboy.
In a statement on the club’s website, Gerrard said, “I’m going to carry on playing. Although I can’t confirm at this stage where that will be, I can say it will be somewhere that means I won’t be playing for a competing club, and will not therefore be lining up against Liverpool — that is something I could never contemplate.”
The 34-year-old midfielder has captained Liverpool for 12 years, notably lifting the Champions League trophy after an unforgettable comeback against AC Milan in 2005. Although he has also won two FA Cups, three League Cups and the UEFA Cup, he has never laid his hands on the Premier League trophy.
The last 12 months have reflected the latter years of his career in microcosm — glorious opportunity, followed by crushing disappointment. Gerrard was poised to capture his first Premier League title last season, but his cruel slip in an April defeat against Chelsea tilted the momentum in the title race in Manchester City’s favor.
Gerrard has endured more than his fair share of disappointment since inspiring Liverpool to glory in the 2006 FA Cup, with the 2012 League Cup the only major honor he has won since. He also went close to winning the league title under Rafael Benitez in 2009, when Liverpool looked destined for the championship, only for Manchester United to steam past it in the home straight.
It was a similar story with England, which he represented on 114 occasions and captained at three major tournaments.
In his club career, Gerrard has scaled almost all the heights.
From the header that sparked the comeback to end all comebacks against Milan in Istanbul to the sensational 35-yard thunderbolt that took the 2006 FA Cup final to extra time, he has swaggered through his Anfield career with the audacity of a comic-book hero.
He was voted the greatest player in Liverpool’s history by fans in a 2013 poll. No less a judge than Zinedine Zidane observed in 2009: “Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo, but yes, I think he might be.”
No longer the box-to-box game-changer of his pomp, Gerrard has streamlined his game under current Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, sitting in front of the back four and spraying passes with unwavering precision. He will leave Anfield as Liverpool’s third-highest appearance-maker, behind only Ian Callaghan and Jamie Carragher, and with a claim to the title of the club’s greatest-ever player that only Kenny Dalglish can contest.
“Because of what he has done for the club, I believe he is the best,” Carragher, Gerrard’s fellow Scouser and former teammate, said in 2012.
“Dalglish, (Graeme) Souness and Ian Rush all played together in a great team, but because football is a team game, it’s been harder for Stevie because he’s not always played in great teams. I definitely think it’s a case with Stevie that people will not fully realize how good he has been until he stops playing.
“None of the players who’ve played alongside him would dispute he’s the best the club has ever had, and I would hope none of the managers would, either.”
Several reports have linked Gerrard with a move to Major League Soccer in the US.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
