To many people, Steven Gerrard’s days as a football superstar are nearly over. At 31 years old, many football fans expect him to retire sooner rather than later. Gerrard has missed several games this season, to recuperate from an operation for an ankle infection. His absence from recent games has been evident in Liverpool’s performance – without Gerrard, Liverpool seem to be struggling a little, only managing a draw against Swansea City, and more recently, 1 – 1 against Manchester City at Anfield.

But Gerrard’s absence may be a good thing, Liverpool are currently sixth in the Barclay’s Premier League with 23 points. Liverpool were triumphant at Stanford Bridge, with a 2-1 victory against Chelsea. This season has probably been Liverpool’s best season in a few years, and they are expected to be about 5th or 6th place at the end of the season. With Gerrard on the bench, we can see new players emerge, ones who were previously overshadowed by Gerrard’s reputation. One such star is Luis Suarez, who has been praised of having “amazing technical ability” which helped Liverpool advance from 12th place to 6th place in the 2010-2011 season.

With such promising young stars shooting out of nowhere, Gerrard will certainly have to work hard to keep his place on the Liverpool first team. But Gerrard also has to worry about his place on the England squad. Euro 2012 is less than a year away, and at 31, it is expected to be Gerrard’s last European Cup, and he would want to go out in a blaze of glory. Not that Gerrard has not had enough chances, having featuring in six major international tournaments during his career, although England did not win any of these competitions.

Perhaps it is time for Steven Gerrard to move aside and make way for the promising young talent, ready to take his place on either the Liverpool or England squads. He has had a fantastic career, winning several trophies with Liverpool, but “all good things must come to an end”, and perhaps, it is the end of Steven Gerrard.

Steven George Gerrard, or Steven Gerrard as he is known popularly around the world, is a English football who plays for Liverpool FC and is also the captain of the club. He is regarded as one of the greatest players for Liverpool. He has played only for Liverpool during his career, which began in 1987 after he joined the youth academy of Liverpool. He progressed through various stages of his youth career before finally making his debut for Liverpool in 1998. His debut came in the match against Blackburn Rovers. However, he did not initially establish himself as a first-team regular straight away, as he made only 13 appearances in that season.

However, his talent was soon recognised and he made 29 appearances in the next season. From then on in, there was no turning the back for Steven Gerrard and Liverpool has he continued to be the heartthrob of the team. He played in the attacking midfielder’s position and is known for his explosive pace and shooting skills. In 2003, then Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier decided to make Steven Gerrard as the captain in favour of Sami Hyypiä. Immediately upon doing so, Gerrard decided to extend his contract with Liverpool by four more years.

Immediately after doing so, Gerrard was linked with a move to Chelsea. Liverpool came extremely close to joining Chelsea in a £20 million deal before eventually withdrawing after the arrival of Rafa Benitez. Rafa Benitez had personally convinced Steven Gerrard that Liverpool would be challenging for the Premier League in the forthcoming seasons. Even though Liverpool did not win the Premier League in the subsequent seasons, success for Steven Gerrard and Liverpool came immediately as they won the Champions League in 2004.

Steven Gerrard played an immense role in helping Liverpool comeback from an three-goal deficit to win the match against AC Milan in the final. This victory was sufficient to make Steven Gerrard feel that Liverpool was in fact his home. Immediately, he signed a four-year contract with Liverpool ending any talks of an impending move to Chelsea. After the arrival of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard formed a great partnership with the Spaniard. The 2008-09 season was by far the best in his Anfield career after he scored 24 goals in just 44 appearances from midfield.

In 2000, Gerrard made his debut for the England national team against Ukraine. He is thought to be one of the members of the Golden generation. He has been the captain of the England national team on a few occasions. In total, he has made 89 international appearances and scored 19 goals. His Liverpool total comes in at 391 appearances.

Even though Gerrard has not won the Premier League, he has won the FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA cup, UEFA Super Cup and so on. Individually, he has been extremely successful in winning the FWA Footballer of the Year, PFA Players’ Player of the Year, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, and England Player of the Year.