Liverpool vs Aston Villa: Jurgen Klopp believes Steven Gerrard will 'definitely' manage Merseyside club one day
ByTNT Sports
Updated 10/12/2021 at 15:52 GMT
Liverpool face Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon which will mark the first time Steven Gerrard returns to the club as a manager. Gerrard had 17 seasons as a professional player with Liverpool from 1998 to 2015, but is now tasked with steering his Villa side to victory over Jurgen Klopp's side who are second in the table. Klopp believes Gerrard will manage Liverpool one day.
'Gerrard will definitely manage Liverpool' Klopp on Stevie's return to Anfield
Jurgen Klopp believes it is only a matter of time before Steven Gerrard becomes the manager of Liverpool.
A Liverpool club legend, Gerrard managed Liverpool’s U18s before taking charge of Rangers in May 2018.
Gerrard switched Rangers for Aston Villa in November and will return to Anfield to face Klopp’s side for the first time since departing the club on Sunday afternoon.
Klopp believes Gerrard will one day become the manager of his boyhood club.
“I think absolutely,” he said. "The only problem is, is when is the right moment for that? We saw that with Frank [Lampard] with his time at Chelsea, which was a similar story.
Stevie's doing really well at the moment because he's very young for a manager so when is the right moment for him to take the job? It's not that he's not able to do it but how long he wants to do it.
Klopp opened his press conference by saying: “I know [Gerrard] said ‘no sentiment’, he’s an experienced coach, but he has no idea how it will feel when he steps into the stadium/dugout. I had a similar thing first time I went back to Mainz.
“Stevie is friends with 99.9 per cent of the people who work at Liverpool. And the 0.1 per cent just haven’t met him yet.
“I celebrated at Mainz [with BVB] like a crazy devil. Stevie is allowed to do that tomorrow. Let’s just hope he has no reason to do so.”
Asked whether he had spoken to Gerrard recently, Klopp joked: "After the last game [Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester], I sent him a message 'Not bad at all! See you!' But we didn't speak."
Klopp also said the rise of the Omicron Covid-19 variant means his side need to be cautious when preparing for matches.
"Tough, tough situation, obviously, for the world," he explained.
"When I came in this morning, then obviously the Premier League sets a few new, or old, standards we have to go back to. We try to be as cautious and careful as somehow possible, do all the things. (There) Might be an extra test per week.
"So with Champions League games we get tested twice a week, now we probably get tested three times a week.
"I'm completely fine with that. No problem. We test every morning. So, yeah, that's it. And of course, on top of that we try to boost all the people if possible."
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