Steven Gerrard Reveals Why He Turned Down Real Madrid and Other European Giants

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says he has "no regrets" about turning down moves to other European giants, including Real Madrid, during his playing career.

The 46-year-old spoke to Overlap Daily about the interest he had from abroad. "I had some interest from foreign teams and the majority of that was through [now Real Madrid coach] José Mourinho," Gerrard said. "Inter Milan, Real Madrid, on a couple of occasions, and at the back end a few conversations with my agent when [Bastian] Schweinsteiger was leaving Bayern [in 2015]."

He said he never really wanted to go. "I wasn't really that interested in it because I was never going to leave Liverpool at the time. I was enjoying my football under [coach] Brendan [Rodgers] when that one came but yes, three of four of the big teams showed some interest during my career, which is flattering, of course it is."

Gerrard admits he still wonders sometimes what might have been, when he sees others do well abroad. "When you watch the likes of Jude Bellingham [at Real Madrid] and Harry Kane [at Bayern Munich] and you see them winning loads of trophies with foreign teams, it does cross your mind and you go back and you think," he said. "But I have no regrets in terms of the decisions I made. No regrets."

The former England skipper played 710 times for Liverpool and won nine trophies. He left Anfield for LA Galaxy in 2015 and retired in 2016 after a 19-year career. Since then he has moved into coaching, but he has been without a club since leaving Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq in January 2025.