I honestly wish Steven Gerrard had got the chance to play for Jürgen Klopp.
And after hearing Gerrard talk about it himself, I’m left wondering just how different the end of his Liverpool career might have been.
The former Liverpool captain has admitted that, knowing what he knows now, he would have stayed at Anfield for another year if he had known Klopp was about to become the manager.
That is some admission.
Because Gerrard wasn’t simply saying he would have liked to meet Klopp.
He said he “would sacrifice a lot of things, professionally and personally” for the opportunity to play for him.
And suddenly one of the biggest Liverpool “what ifs” of the modern era feels even more interesting.
Gerrard could have stayed
Gerrard left Liverpool in the summer of 2015 after 17 years in the first team.
He had made 710 appearances for the club, scored 186 goals and captained Liverpool through some extraordinary moments, including Istanbul, the 2006 FA Cup final and the heartbreaking 2013/14 title challenge. Liverpool’s own records confirm just how extraordinary his career at the club was.
But there was actually an opportunity for him to stay.
Liverpool offered Gerrard another one-year contract.
The problem was that the conversations he was having with the club suggested his role would be changing significantly.
As Gerrard explained, he was being told he would become more of a “bit-part player”, play fewer minutes and be less involved than he wanted.
And I completely understand why he made the decision he did.
At 35 years old, after being Liverpool’s captain and one of the most important players at the club for so long, the idea of becoming a squad player must have been difficult.
So he left.
He joined LA Galaxy.
And that should have been the end of the story.
Except it wasn’t.
Then Jürgen Klopp arrived
Just a few months later, Brendan Rodgers was gone.
And Klopp was appointed Liverpool manager.
That’s the bit that makes this so painful.
Gerrard didn’t leave Liverpool knowing Klopp was coming.
He had no way of knowing that the man who would eventually transform the club was only months away from arriving.
And now Gerrard admits that if he had known, he would have gambled.
He would have stayed.
He would have accepted the uncertainty.
He would have tried to convince Klopp that he still had something to offer.
Imagine that.
Steven Gerrard playing for Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Even if it had only been for one season.
I think Gerrard would have loved Klopp
This is the part that makes perfect sense to me.
Gerrard was always a player who wanted responsibility.
He wanted to compete.
He wanted to influence games.
And Klopp was the sort of manager who demanded enormous intensity from his players but also created a strong emotional connection with them.
I can absolutely understand why Gerrard would look back and think:
“I wish I’d taken that gamble.”
And maybe Klopp would have loved having Gerrard around too.
We already know the two developed a good relationship after Klopp arrived.
They even famously ended up having a few drinks together at a pub in Formby, with Gerrard later describing Klopp as a special person.
Klopp also made it clear that Gerrard would always be welcome at Liverpool.
So there was clearly a mutual respect there.
But we will never know what might have happened on the pitch.
Could Gerrard have made a difference?
This is where I’m not going to pretend I know the answer.
Maybe Gerrard would have played regularly.
Maybe Klopp would have decided his legs weren’t suited to the intensity he wanted.
Maybe Gerrard would have spent most of the season on the bench.
Maybe he would have become a brilliant dressing-room influence.
Maybe he would have surprised everybody and played a much bigger role than expected.
We simply don’t know.
And that’s what makes it such a great football question.
What we do know is that Klopp arrived at Liverpool with Jordan Henderson already there, before Gini Wijnaldum joined in 2016 and Fabinho arrived in 2018.
That midfield eventually became one of the foundations of Klopp’s Liverpool.
But imagine adding Gerrard into that environment.
Even an older Gerrard.
Even a Gerrard who wasn’t playing every week.
I’d have loved to see it.
Gerrard has no regrets about Liverpool – but this is different
I don’t think Gerrard is suggesting he made some terrible career decision.
He had an extraordinary career.
He left Liverpool having given the club everything he had and eventually moved into coaching.
Liverpool themselves noted that he spent 17 years in the first team and finished with 710 appearances and 186 goals.
But this is one of those moments where hindsight is brutal.
At the time, leaving made sense.
Knowing Klopp was coming would have changed everything.
And Gerrard has admitted it himself.
“In hindsight, I would have stayed and took the gamble.”
That’s the sentence that gets me.
Because how many Liverpool supporters have wondered exactly the same thing?
What if Gerrard had stayed?
What if he’d played under Klopp?
What if we’d seen Gerrard pressing, driving forward and demanding everything from the players around him in that Klopp team?
We’ll never know.
And perhaps that’s for the best.
Because football is full of those sliding-door moments.
Gerrard and Klopp were both destined to become huge figures in Liverpool’s history.
They just missed each other by a matter of months.
And I really wish they hadn’t.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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