Why Liverpool Legend Steven Gerrard Rejected a Chance to Join Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United

Why Liverpool Legend Steven Gerrard Rejected a Chance to Join Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United

Byron Pillay
updated at February 13, 2024 at 11:54 AM
In this article:
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Liverpool
England
45
S. Gerrard
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Manchester United logo
Manchester United
England
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G. Neville
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ENG Premier League
England
  • Steven Gerrard played over 700 games for Liverpool and became a legend in Merseyside
  • Gary Neville revealed that he was asked to try and talk Gerrard into departing Liverpool
  • Sir Alex Ferguson was an admirer of Gerrard and tried to sign him for Manchester United

Can you imagine Steven Gerrard swapping the red half of Merseyside for the red half of Manchester?

According to Manchester United legend, Gary Neville, the former Liverpool captain had the chance to do just that.

Steven Gerrard once rejected a move to Manchester United to stay on Merseyside.
Steven Gerrard couldn't bear leaving Liverpool to join Manchester United, Gary Neville has revealed. Image: Andrew Powell.
Source: Getty Images

As reported by 90Min, Neville revealed that Gerrard turned down the chance to join the Red Devils in 2004.

Why did Gerrard reject a move?

Having never won the English Premier League with The Reds, Gerrard was given the chance to achieve success with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

United won the league title in the 2002/03 season and were looking to bolster their squad as they competed with Chelsea for trophies.

Neville revealed that Sir Alex asked him to speak to Gerrard during an England training camp, hoping to lure him to Manchester.

"I went to see Stevie, and he quite categorically rejected it pretty quickly. He said he would never get out of Liverpool and his family would never get out of Liverpool," Neville explained.

Gerrard became a Liverpool legend

While Gerrard may have never lifted the league title with the Anfield side, he did leave as an absolute legend of the city.

After joining the academy in 1989 and making his first-team debut in 1998, Stevie went on to become club captain and played 710 games for the Reds in all competitions.

As noted by Transfermarkt, he also won the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, and UEFA Cup with the side before leaving in 2015.

Pep Guardiola aims jibe at Gerrard

Sports Brief previously reported how Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola aimed a jibe at Steven Gerrard by bringing up his famous ‘slip’.

Stevie G slipped during a crucial game for Liverpool against Chelsea in 2014, which proved costly and handed Manchester City the trophy.

Guardiola made the comments while addressing reports that City could be stripped of their league titles if they were found guilty of FFP breaches.

Authors
Byron Pillay photo
Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.