Steven Gerrard is reportedly a candidate for the new coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. The news was reported by the Telegraph after Aston Villa officially sacked Dean Smith, Sunday (11/07/2021). Dean Smith was sacked following a string of poor results achieved by Aston Villa in the 2021-2022 Premier League.
After beating Manchester United 1-0, Aston Villa slumped to five consecutive defeats in the Premier League. Most recently, the club nicknamed The Villans was defeated 0-1 when they traveled to Southampton headquarters in the 11th week of the Premier League, last Sunday. Aston Villa are also at the bottom of the Premier League standings, right in the 16th position with 10 points.
Dean Smith is the fifth manager at a Premier League club to be sacked this season. Previously, Daniel Farke (Norwich City), Xisco Munoz (Watford), Steve Bruce (Newcastle), and Nuno Espirito Santo (Tottenham Hotspur) first entered the list of managers who were sacked in the Premier League this season. Meanwhile, CV Steven Gerrard with Rangers in the Scottish League reportedly attracted the interest of The Villans to make him the new coach.
Steven Gerrard has made his debut as a coach with Rangers since the summer of 2018. In the 2021-2022 season, the Liverpool legend successfully brought Rangers to the Scottish League title. Along with Gerrard, Rangers are also still in power this season, by topping the Scottish League standings with 30 points, four points ahead of Celtic in second post.
Before this news emerged, Gerrard had been linked with joining Newcastle United, the richest club in the world today after being acquired by the Saudi Arabian Consortium. However, the 41-year-old coach is adamant he wants to stay at Rangers.
Apart from that, Jamie Carragher, who is also a Liverpool legend, said that Aston Villa’s offer was a good thing for Gerarrd’s career. However, Carragher still thinks his former team-mate will stay at Rangers to win the Scottish League again this season. “I think Aston Villa as a club would be a great move for Steven Gerrard,” Carragher said.
“However, the situation he is in now is that he took the title from Celtic last season, and he is in a good position to win it again. I think the perfect situation is to want to stay at Rangers until the end of the season and go from there with two titles,” he said.
Meanwhile, a number of other names are also reportedly included in the radar of the new Aston Villa coach. Two of them are Ralph Hasenhuttl (Southampton coach) and Kasper Hjulmand (Denmark national team).