CARSON, Calif. – Now that Steven Gerrard's legendary tenure at Liverpool is done, the countdown for his arrival in MLS begins in earnest. Just don't ask the LA Galaxy when he'll be here.
Gerrard played his 710th and final match for the Reds in their English Premier League season finale Sunday, a 6-1 debacle at Stoke City in which he netted his 186th goal for the club.
He'll be eligible to play for the Galaxy once the summer transfer window opens on July 8, but the defending MLS Cup champions aren't sure when he'll get to Southern California.
“He'll take a little time off right now,” head coach Bruce Arena said following Monday morning's training session at StubHub Center. “We haven't formalized a date yet [for his arrival].”
Gerrard, 34, is expected in sometime in late June, and could make his Galaxy debut in the July 11 International Champions Cup match against Mexico's Club América at StubHub Center. His first league game could arrive July 17 at home against the San Jose Earthquakes.
LA have eight league matches to play before they can use Gerrard, who spent 17 years with Liverpool, his hometown club. His signing with the Galaxy was announced in January.
“I was excited when we signed him, but we're focused with the players we have right now,” said forward Alan Gordon, whose stoppage-time header gave LA a 1-0 win on Friday night against Houston. “We're anxiously awaiting him, but we've got a lot of work to do before he gets here.
“I'm not thinking about it too much until he gets here – there's really not too much point in that – but we're going to do the best we can to get some points and be in a good spot when he gets there. He should be the piece that catapults us up the table.”
The Galaxy (4-4-5) are sixth in the Western Conference, just four points behind first-place FC Dallas, who have played one fewer game. LA host Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night (10:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE)
Captain Robbie Keane, who played alongside Gerrard at Liverpool during the first half of the 2008-09 EPL season, said he was “looking forward to him getting here and adding to our squad.”
Keane took issue with headlines used in an online piece last week that suggested that he had “warned” Gerrard in an interview that he was “joining MLS to win, not a holiday.”
“I didn't 'warn' him,” Keane said. “I said some player in Europe, and not Stevie. ... Like I said before, I never came here for a holiday. I came here to win things. Some players [do come for a holiday], but Stevie is not one of those players. He's a winner, he's a born winner, he likes to win things.
“People like Steven Gerrard, they're the players we want in this team, in this organization. They're the winner. They're the players who want to win, who want to still achieve regardless of what they've achieved in their career. Whether they won trophies, [UEFA] Champions League, he still wants to win things. He has the hunger to play, the hunger to try, and that's the same as me.”
Gerrard won 10 trophies at Liverpool – including the UEFA Champions League a decade ago – and will be looking for a few with the Galaxy this year. He could play in as many as 13 MLS regular-season games, the Galaxy's group-play schedule in the CONCACAF Champions League, throughout the playoffs and, should the Galaxy advance as far, from the quarterfinals on in the US Open Cup.
