Steven Gerrard, a former England and Liverpool midfielder, has been the manager of Saudi Arabian team, Al-Ettifaq FC.
The 43-year-old had previously stated in June that he would not be accepting an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia to “look at a potential offer.”.
According to the club’s chairman, Khalid Al-Dabal, “Gerrard’s presence will without a doubt be an addition and a quantum leap to our league.”.
The Saudi club and Gerrard have agreed to a two-year deal.
Last season, Al-Ettifaq finished 35 points behind champions Al-Ittihad in seventh place out of 16 teams in the Saudi Pro League.
Gerrard hasn’t had a job since being fired as the manager of Aston Villa in October of last year.
The former England midfielder’s move to Saudi Arabia comes after Pro League clubs made significant investments this summer as several top European players joined former Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo in the Middle East.
The trend underlines the league’s ambition to be one of the top five in the world and follows a decision in June by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns Newcastle United, to take over four leading clubs in the country. Al-Ettifaq is not one of those clubs.
Those clubs do not include Al-Ettifaq.
After ending his playing career in 2016, Steven Gerrard took over as manager of Scottish club Rangers.
Later, in November 2021, Gerrard was appointed manager of Villa, but he resigned after only 13 victories in 40 games.
Karim Benzema, former Real Madrid striker, Ruben Neves, N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Edouard Mendy are just a few players who have made the move to Saudi Arabia.
The most recent transfer to be finalized was Marcelo Brozovic from Inter Milan to Al-Nassr.
Additionally, Marco Silva, the manager of Fulham, reportedly declined a £17 million offer to lead Al-Hilal.
