Steven Gerrard tipped to secure incredible next job with former Villa boss ‘ready to crack on’ and reignite managerial career

A former Liverpool team-mate of Steven Gerrard has backed the manager to return to the dugout and potentially secure the Paris Saint-Germain job, in what would be a major shock.

Gerrard spent time managing the Liverpool U18 side before being announced as Rangers boss in June 2018. He proved to be a big hit at Ibrox, guiding Rangers to the Scottish Premiership title in the 2020-21 season, during which they also went undefeated.

Rangers did well in Europe under Gerrard’s management, too. They reached the Europa League round of 16 in consecutive seasons. This is something they had not managed for several years before that.

The 42-year-old left Rangers in November 2021 when Aston Villa came calling. He replaced Dean Smith by signing a three-and-a-half-year contract at Villa Park.

Gerrard’s tenure at Villa started well, although things soon started to turn sour. The fans began to turn against him amid poor results and a disappointing style of football.

Villa sacked Gerrard in October last year, immediately after their 3-0 loss to Fulham. That was the Villans’ sixth defeat in just 11 Premier League games.

Gerrard has since spent time working as a pundit for BT Sport. He was briefly linked with the Poland national team job, which would have seen him reunite with Villa right-back Matty Cash. However, the Polish FA soon announced they were looking for someone with more experience managing at international tournaments.

Following Jesse Marsch’s departure from Leeds United, it emerged that Gerrard was ‘keen’ to replace him at Elland Road. However, the Whites snubbed his interest and instead went for Javi Gracia.

Steven Gerrard backed to get fanciful PSG role

On February 21, the Scottish Daily Express revealed how PSG chiefs have talked about hiring Gerrard amid concerns over current boss Christophe Galtier.

The move would be a huge shock given Gerrard’s poor spell at Villa and the kind of results and trophies the PSG hierarchy expect.

Nevertheless, Gregory Vignal, who played alongside Gerrard at Liverpool and also coached under him at Rangers, reckons the former England international could actually get that role.

“I’m pretty sure that Steven is ready to crack on again,” Vignal said in an interview with the Scottish Daily Express. “He is strong enough mentally to start a new project. Why not Paris Saint-Germain? They have been talking about him.

“I’m sure he can get a good job soon whether that is in the Premier League or abroad.

“I worked with the first team as well as the youths when I was at Rangers. It was great to be part of the team with Steven and Michael Beale.

“I haven’t had a chance to have a big chat with Michael since he has come back [to Rangers] because he has been so busy. We talked at Christmas and of course I wished him every success.”

While PSG may have talked about Gerrard internally, it is hard to see them actually going through with his appointment. Their ultimate goal is to win the Champions League. Gerrard is far too inexperienced at managerial level to achieve this.

A move for Zinedine Zidane would make far more sense. He won the UCL three times in a row between 2016 and 2018 while managing Real Madrid. This is the kind of pedigree PSG will be after.

Plus, Zidane knows how to handle a dressing room full of world-class players. This is a requirement for the PSG job given the fact they have stars such as Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Marco Verratti in their squad.

The only trouble for the Ligue 1 giants will be convincing Zidane to join. It is understood he would ideally like to manage France next.

Meanwhile, Everton and Villa are both in the mix to sign a big-name Serie A player, according to a report.