Steven Gerrard is set for a warm reception when he returns to Anfield this weekend as his Aston Villa side take on Liverpool.
The 41-year-old has made an excellent start to life at Villa Park after winning three of his opening four matches in charge.
It took just minutes at his Villa unveiling press conference for him to be asked about what his next job could be, with many tipping him as a future Liverpool boss.
Seeing Gerrard as Reds’ manager at Anfield seems like a match made in heaven at some point in the future with fans and ex-players no doubt excited about the prospect of a future link-up, but what’s been said?
Here’s what some high-profile names – plus Gerrard himself – have had to say about the links.
Steven Gerrard
Gerrard said: “The Liverpool fans don’t want me to be the manager of Liverpool Football Club.
“They want Jurgen Klopp to continue to be the Liverpool manager, and I’m totally with all of them.
“We shouldn’t talk about this, we have one of the best managers leading our club at the minute. I love him.
“I hope he stays for a few more years. I don’t think it’s helpful to talk about this and I hope Jurgen stays at Liverpool for many years.
“Liverpool is my club. I had a great journey. Is it a dream for me to one day be the Liverpool manager? Yes, it is, but not yet and who’s to say I’ll ever be good enough.
“There’s a lot of fantastic managers that would all like the chance to manage Liverpool. We need to respect Jurgen first and foremost.”
Speaking at his Aston Villa unveiling, he added: “You’ll never hear me say it’s a stepping stone.
“I’m really honoured and proud.
“I’ll give this job everything it needs to be a success, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having dreams and aspirations.
“Liverpool have a world class coach and if he was to sign a lifetime deal I would be very happy for them and him.”
Jurgen Klopp
Speaking to FourFourTwo in 2019, Klopp said: “If you ask who should follow me, I’d say Stevie. I help him whenever I can.
“If someone gets your job, it’s not about them, it’s about you not being good enough.
“I’m old enough to know that I give this job everything. I’m not a genius, I’m not perfect, but I give the club 100 per cent. If that’s enough, great. If it’s not, then it’s just the problem of the situation.
“I’m not jealous, I’m not sceptical. I’m completely open. If you want my help, you’ll get it.
“My family often thinks that I’m too quick to open up, but I think being any other way is a waste of time. I love life, I love my job, I like most people – that’s how it is.”
Speaking this year, Klopp added: “In England you have some club legends and think ‘could he be the coach?.
“When Frank Lampard took over at Chelsea everyone thought ‘that makes sense’, but then where can he go from there?
“Stevie is doing everything right so far, getting some experience here with the academy, taking his coaching experiences to Rangers, being very, very, very successful there, then he had made the next step. So far it has been the perfect career.
“While I’m here, it’s difficult but of course [he can be Liverpool’s future manager]. But it is important that from now on that the Steven Gerrard Aston Villa chapter starts and that’s exactly what will happen.”
Ally McCoist
In May this year he told talkSPORT: “I don’t think it’ll be any time soon.
“Listening to Steven’s interviews after the games as he has done since he’s taken the job, he speaks very, very well. He just gets it.
“I heard him say Liverpool have got a great manager – and they have got a great manager. The Liverpool fans are very, very happy with their manager. So are Rangers.
“But would Steven Gerrard be a great fit for Liverpool in the future? One hundred per cent.
“It’s all about timing. In my opinion, the timing is not right, right now.
“I’d love him to stay [at Rangers] for another couple of years, win a couple of titles, [compete] in the Champions League… and then if the time is right, move to Liverpool.
“I’m not sure it would be a good move for him going somewhere else before Liverpool. What if it didn’t work out?”
Scott Minto
“In terms of Steven Gerrard, I can completely understand why Villa have come in for him,” former Premier League ace Scott Minto told talkSPORT on the Kick Off.
“I think the question here is, what does Steven Gerrard want in the long term? We’re pretty sure he wants the Liverpool job, but what is the best way to get to Liverpool?
“I do think Rangers is a fantastic club in a small league, if you put them in the Premier League, five years they’ll be chasing Europe, ten years they’ll be chasing top four.
“But can you jump from Rangers to Liverpool? I think if he’s won three or four titles on the spin, you can.
“Now by going to Villa he’s put himself a lot more under pressure because what do the Villa hierarchy want? Is it top six? Does he need to be getting them into top six?
“A lot more things can go wrong.
“It was an amazing achievement to go through the season unbeaten [at Rangers] and if he does that three or four seasons on the spin, with Jurgen Klopp’s contract out and he says, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore’, I think that he’s more than capable and the club are more likely to say, ‘Okay, you can step right in’.
“By going to Villa there’s a lot more permutations that can go either way.”
Jermain Defoe
“That’s probably the main goal. That’s probably what he’s striving for,” he told Darren Bent’s Boot Room on talkSPORT.
“Because he’s done so well and that’s what he’s striving for and it’s his first main job really. He went from Liverpool Under-18s straight to Rangers, even then people probably thought that was a big job for your first job.
“To dominate domestically was special, but people might look at it and think it’s either going to be Celtic or Rangers, but to compete in Europe as well.
“At some point I think he will go on to manage Liverpool.”
Mark Lawrenson
Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “With Steven Gerrard, in his three years at Rangers he’s improved the team every single year and this year they’ve walked away with the title, which is a fantastic achievement for him.
“I feel it’s a little bit early for him. He’s not had what I’d call proper experience.
“He starts next year as favourites at Rangers and is probably the first year he’s started as favourites.
“That is pressure up there. It’s everything up there.
“He’s got to have a little spell at Rangers where it goes against him, he loses a few games and Celtic might come back.
“That’s what experience is. It’s when you lose some not winning every single week.
“It’s where Liverpool are at the moment and you’re thinking ‘what the hell?’.
“I would think another year or two. I look at Steven and think of Frank Lampard, although Steven has been at Rangers longer than Frank Lampard was at Derby.
“That is the sort of equivalent you are looking at.
“It’s a little early at the moment but I think it will happen eventually.”
Jamie Carragher
Writing for The Telegraph, Carragher said: “Gerrard now faces similar obstacles to those he overcame in Glasgow, with cynics wondering if it is too soon for him to be entrusted with such a huge job.
“There is also the complication of many seeing him as continuing an apprenticeship until Klopp says farewell to Anfield and Gerrard makes his emotional return.
“Maybe that will happen one day, but I can promise you this: Steven Gerrard will only ever want to become Liverpool manager on merit.
“And the Liverpool supporters will only want him to become Liverpool manager on those terms, not because of some kind of romantic homecoming.
“When Klopp goes, Liverpool will only employ the best man for the job, as they did when making their last appointment in 2015.
“Gerrard’s connection is an advantage if the day comes when he is a serious candidate. Until then, it is a subject overplayed and should not be on the agenda right now.”
Graeme Souness
Speaking to the Daily Record, he said: “For me, it’s really only a matter of when and not if.
The owners might see things totally differently but owners want to be popular. So if things are going really well and they employ Steven that means he’s taking over at a great time, with the football club moving forward. It would be an easy transition.
“If your club is not doing well then the owners come under pressure to make a popular appointment. And you won’t find more popular than him.
“So either way, it seems like an obvious one for me.”
Kenny Dalglish
Dalglish said: “It’s hypothetical, the job’s not available, but when it becomes available I’m sure Steven would be right up there in the contenders.
“He has done absolutely fantastic at Ibrox.
“For me it’s not a shock he’s done that well,” added Dalglish of the job Gerrard’s done so far in Scotland. “I always thought he’d be a really good manager wherever he went. He took a big step to go to Rangers.
“He knew the size of the club and what it means to millions of people. He took a chance, he’s a brave boy going there, and it’s worked out fantastically well for him.”
Ian Rush
Speaking to The Mirror, Rush said: “Bookies are never far wrong. Hopefully, Jurgen Klopp will be at Liverpool a long time because that means they are doing well.
“One day, I’m certain, he will manage Liverpool, but it’s not going to be tomorrow. I’m certain that managing Liverpool is in his long-term thinking, but management is a learning curve and Stevie is still learning.
“Timing is everything – maybe it was a bit too soon, for instance, for Frank Lampard to leave Derby County for Chelsea.
“I actually thought he did OK, but he still lost his job. You don’t want the same thing to happen to Steven. You have to be careful pushing people too soon.”