Steven Gerrard has officially signed a 2-year contract extension with Al-Ettifaq just days after Jordan Henderson terminates his contract.
Gerrard’s new deal
Gerrard has extended his Al-Ettifaq contract by two years. He’s already one of the best-paid managers in the world with a £15m-a-year salary.
This comes as a shock to many as Gerrard hasn’t led Al-Ettifaq to a win since October. The two-time Saudi Pro League winners have backed and supported Gerrard by giving him an extension on his contract.
Al-Ettifaq sit in 8th in the table – only eight points off the bottom three.
The Saudi Pro League is in the midst of it’s six week mid-season break which gives Gerrard time to reflect and get his team up and running again.
Gerrard’s managerial struggles
Gerrard’s success with Rangers was exciting as he showed promise of becoming a top manager after enjoying such an incredible playing career. He won the Scottish Premier League with Rangers which prevented Celtic from winning it a record 10th time in-a-row.
He moved from Rangers to join Premier League side Aston Villa. This was meant to be the first big step in Gerrard’s career but it ended up plummeting.
He only managed 11 months at the club and was sacked due to poor results.
Just months later, he moved to Saudi Arabia to join Al-Ettifaq to become one of richest managers in the world.
Al-Ettifaq form
Gerrard and Al-Ettifaq had a great start together – winning five out of the first seven matches. It all went downhill from there though.
Gerrard has struggled to get his players performing again with just six wins in 19 games.
One of the first decisions he made as manager was to sign Henderson from Liverpool. He managed to sign the 33-year-old for £12m.
He immediately became the skipper and one of the highest-paid footballers in the world on a £700k-a-week contract. After just six months, Henderson had enough and he terminated his contract with the club to head back to Europe to join Dutch side Ajax.
Gerrard is now left without his captain and fellow Englishman. He now has to drag his team off the floor and achieve great results if they are to avoid relegation.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
