Steven Gerrard, the former Aston Villa manager, has moved to bring in his former assistant Michael Beale to join him at Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League. Gerrard has been in charge of Al-Ettifaq since the summer of 2023 and has decided to reunite with Beale, with who he has worked previously at both Villa and Rangers.

Gerrard joined Villa from SPL giants Rangers three years ago when he replaced the sacked Dean Smith, but the Liverpool legend was out of work after spending just a year at Villa Park. During that time, Beale – who had initially joined Gerrard in Birmingham – left to take up the reins at Queens Park Rangers and then made a return to Ibrox as manager in his own right.

Beale’s last job was before Christmas last year, when he was made Sunderland boss following the club’s decision to part with Tony Mowbray. Beale, though, lasted just 63 days and won four of his 12 matches in charge before the Black Cats decided to sack him in February. He has been out of football since then, but talkSPORT now reports that Gerrard has moved to take him out to Saudi Arabia.

Beale, upon leaving Sunderland, told Inside the Academy: “Around a couple of the moves I’ve had as a manager, I saw loads of snakes and people come out of the woodwork – and I didn’t like it. It made me uncomfortable, and perhaps I would’ve made better decisions if those people weren’t around, but that’s for another time. Ultimately, I’m very, very fortunate that I’ve been a manager at QPR, Glasgow Rangers, 52,000 (fans), Sunderland, 44,000 in the Championship.

“I’ve worked in the Premier League, I’ve worked in Serie A and I’ve worked in over 60 games in Europe across the Europa League and Champions League. So I have 257 games in the system, 77 games as a manager and at 44 years of age I feel like I’m at the start of my career. In that sense, I still feel like I’m a young coach.”

It’s estimated Gerrard is on £15m a year at Al Ettifaq, who have endured a poor beginning to the new season. They won their first three games, but have since gone seven without a win and have taken two points from those matches. Gerrard has the likes of Moussa Dembele, Demarai Gray, Jack Hendry and Georginio Wijnaldum in his squad.