Steven Gerrard might play his last game for Liverpool FC in a few months. Then again, he might not.
Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre said Thursday that the Reds won’t sever ties with Gerrard after he leaves Anfield for the Los Angeles Galaxy in July. Ayre told Liverpool radio station City Talk Gerrard could return to the club in early 2016 as a player on loan or in a non-playing capacity further into the future.
“I’ve said openly to Steven and his representatives, as have Brendan and the owners, that we see Steven as part of the family,” Ayre said, according to the Guardian. “The fact that he’s leaving at the end of the season doesn’t mean it’s the last we’ll see of him at Liverpool. What that means, the details aren’t known yet, but we will keep a regular dialogue with him and I hope we will see him here again in the long term.”
The host then asked Ayre if he meant Gerrard could re-join the Reds on loan. Ayre said a loan is a possibility and he and Gerrard’s agents already have discussed the topic.
Asked if that could mean a Gerrard return on loan next January, Ayre said: “It’s conceivable. It happens a lot in MLS and it’s something we talked to Steven and his representatives about. You can’t have someone who has so much of the club’s DNA in them and just expect that it will go away.”
Gerrard, 34, will continue to lead the Reds on the field before he ends his 25-plus-year Liverpool career in May. Time will tell whether Gerrard ends his Liverpool career for good or he authors an Anfield epilogue.
