According to The Telegraph and many sources, Steven Gerrard is going to leave Liverpool when his contract is up at the end of this EPL season. Gerrard has spent his entire 28 year soccer playing career, starting at age 7 at Liverpool. Gerrard plans to announce this decision on Friday.
With Gerrard leaving the team, this is truly the end of an era for one of Liverpool’s and English soccer’s most beloved players. Steven Gerrard has remained loyal to Liverpool for so many years. When it came to his efforts with Hillsborough to not leaving to go to better, more successful teams, Gerrard has shown respect and loyalty to Liverpool and Liverpool has done that as well. It’s rare that kind of loyalty remains both from a player to a team and a team to a player.
Gerrard’s decision was most likely a tough decision but the writing was on the wall for both Gerrard and the team. Steven Gerrard is turning 35 this year and his best days are behind him. While he is captain of the team and is one of the best players ever, there comes a time where Liverpool is going to decide whether or not Gerrard is best with fewer minutes. Gerrard likely feels that he can still play efficiently and would like more playing time than what Liverpool is offering and that, along with other reasons, lead to this decision.
All in all, Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool makes sense both for him and the team. That doesn’t make it any easier if you are a Liverpool fan but it’s going to be for the best for both. Gerrard can go to a team and get the playing time he feels he deserves and Liverpool gets to take a sizable wage commitment for a player who is getting older and less effective each year. It’s going to take some getting used to, but both sides can move on and more importantly, no one looks like the bad guy in this ordeal.
