The story appears on

Page A16

January 7, 2016

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Soccer

Guardiola would ‘Pep up’ EPL

FORMER Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard yesterday said “world-class” Pep Guardiola would be a great addition to the Premier League after the much sought-after Bayern Munich boss said he wanted to coach in England.

Guardiola, who will turn 45 this month, said on Tuesday that the reason he was leaving the German giant at the end of the season was because he wanted to coach in England.

“Pep Guardiola is a world-class manager,” Gerrard told reporters in Sydney ahead of a Liverpool Legends game today.

“It’s looking like he is going to be coming to the Premier League which is great for us.”

Gerrard, clearly a fan of the ex-Barcelona boss, is currently reading “Pep Confidential”, a book about Guardiola’s first season at Bayern.

The LA Galaxy midfielder, 35, has his own ambitions in management and is working on his coaching qualifications prior to his expected retirement from playing this year.

He said he had a “positive conversation” with current Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp and was keen to remain involved with his hometown club in any capacity.

Gerrard left the English Premier League side for the Los Angeles Galaxy last year, and has been training on Merseyside during the MLS close season.

“I’ve been told I’ve been welcomed back at the club which is great for me because I’ve been at Liverpool since I was eight years of age. I love the club,” he said. “I certainly had a positive conversation with Juergen Klopp and he made me feel very welcome when I train with the team.”

But Gerrard added that he was aware of the challenges of transiting from playing to coaching.

“I think you see the reason why a lot of top players don’t make a successful manager because it’s a completely different role,” Gerrard said. “The exciting thing is no one knows how good I’ll be... we’ll have to wait and see, but I’m certainly going to get as much experience and as much qualifications as I can under me belt and we’ll see whether I’m good enough if one day I take the plunge.”




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend