Gerrard’s next steps

talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs believes Steven Gerrard’s next role in football will come in England, potentially as an assistant manager.

However, Saudi Arabia could be willing to call on his expertise again in the future despite his poor spell as Al Ettifaq boss.

Gerrard has left the Saudi Pro League side by mutual consent after and is understood to have departed for personal reasons.

The Liverpool legend’s next steps remain unknown, but talkSPORT’s Saudi correspondent Jacobs has explained how they could pan out.

“Well I think Steven Gerrard will take his time,” he told talkSPORT Breakfast.

“There’s a possibility he remains [with] an affiliation in Saudi Arabia, doing some kind of development.

“I don’t think it will be a full-time role, but there was an interview that Piers Morgan did with the Saudi sports minister [Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal].

“In it, he said Steven Gerrard came to the government and they said, ‘From your days as an elite player, and to an extent management as well, what is it in the Premier League in terms of infrastructure that you need?’

“And apparently, Gerrard said, ‘I want this kind of gym, with this kind of equipment, this kind of data, this kind of sport science,’ and so on.

“They made a list and then they actually implemented that list across many of the Saudi clubs.

“So it wouldn’t surprise me if they return to Gerrard and seek a bit of advice from an elite player perspective, and that gives him some form of role.

“But he’s not staying in Saudi Arabia and I think that his next role will be back in England whether as a manager, or maybe at a big club as some kind of assistant.

“He might have to drop down from being a lead manager and see whether there’s a role at a top club where he can rebuild his career because unfortunately as a manager, it just hasn’t worked.

“As shown by his final stretch at Al Ettifaq where he won one game in 14. Sixth place finish the season before, very positive, but is that enough to get a big job in Europe? Personally, I’m not so sure.”