Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has spoken of his surprise that Steven Gerrard turned down the chance to manage in Saudi Arabia.
Gerrard has been out of a job since he was sacked by Aston Villa in October. The 43-year-old led Villa to 13 wins from 40 games during his 11 months in charge after arriving from a successful stint at Rangers.
Gerrard was spotted in Saudi Arabia earlier this month amid reports that he had been offered the chance to become manager of Al-Ettifaq. But speaking ahead of England’s win over North Macedonia on Monday night, the Liverpool great revealed he would not be taking up an offer to manage in the Saudi Pro League.
He said: "A lot has been said in the media, a lot of it is not true. I was invited over there to look at a potential offer, which I did.
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"I have been analysing that for the last few days, but where we stand right now, I won’t be taking that offer."
Reacting to Gerrard’s admission, Murphy, speaking on the White and Jordan talkSPORT show, admitted he was surprised by his former team-mate’s decision to stay away from the Middle East.
He said: "I was a tad surprised, if I am honest. I thought while he was over there, the lucrative aspect of it and the way they would have made him feel welcome, I thought he might be reeled in.
"But he has shown some courage and substance there. The one thing I know about Stevie is, he loves football.
"He loves a challenge, and he loves trying to prove people wrong. That journey, he did amazingly well as a footballer, and as a manager now, he has taken some steps forward and gone backwards.
"He is going to have to take a challenge that maybe he did not anticipate he was going to have to, when he started flying at Rangers.
"And maybe something is in the pipeline that we didn’t know last week when we were talking about it, and he will challenge himself to do that."
