Liverpool brings back Gerrard as youth coach

Steven Gerrard is going back home.

The Liverpool legend, who spent 17 years with the Merseyside outfit as a player, was announced Friday as the newest full-time youth coach at the Reds' academy in Kirkby.

He will officially start work in February, according to a club statement, although he familiarised himself with the youth system while working to attain his coaching badges last year.

Of course, Gerrard also graduated from the academy as a youth player himself in 1998.

A job in management has always been the logical next step for someone who was widely considered a natural leader on the pitch. Gerrard had the opportunity to take the MK Dons gig, but admitted it came "too soon" for him.

Leading Liverpool's youth players instead gives him the chance to ease into the day-to-day life of coaching and enhance his skills with the help of academy director Alex Inglethorpe.

"It feels like completing the circle; returning to the place where professionally it all began. However, this isn't a decision based on emotion - it's about what I can offer and contribute to Liverpool," he told the club's website.

"Meeting with Alex Inglethorpe, seeing the work they are currently doing and want to do in the future at Kirkby, it just felt right. The right option at the right time, for all parties involved."

Following his departure from the LA Galaxy and subsequent retirement from football last year, Gerrard seemed destined to return to the club he supported as a child and later captained for more than a decade.

For his part, manager Jurgen Klopp has done his best to make Gerrard feel welcome back at Anfield and the club's Melwood training ground. Gerrard trained with the rest of the Liverpool squad in December 2015 as he prepared for his final season in Major League Soccer.

"The door is always open for him," Klopp said. "From our side, if he wants to make whichever career change from his former career, then we want to help him."