Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is edging closer to leaving Rangers for Aston Villa, as William Hill have suspended all betting on the former midfielder taking the vacant job.
Villa sacked Dean Smith at the weekend after five losses on the spin. Smith had taken the club up to the Premier League via the play-offs and kept them in the division two years ago on the final day of the season, before improvements last season spearheaded by an electric Jack Grealish saw them soar up the table.
But life without Grealish has been tough for Midlands outfit. Since selling their talismanic captain to Manchester City for £100m, the Villans have struggled for form, leaving Smith in a perilous position at the helm.
Now, it looks like the much rumoured Steven Gerrard will be taking the baton - so much so that William Hill have suspended bets for it.
Rupert Adams, Spokesperson for William Hill, said: “It looks as if we’ll see Steven Gerrard back in the Premier League perhaps sooner than we thought with a move to Aston Villa seemingly very close to being completed.
“He had been backed into 1/5 from 4/6 overnight to take over at Villa Park, but with the switch now looking a done deal, we suspended the market at 1:10pm on Wednesday.”
Gerrard has impressed in his time north of the border. Last season, he and his Rangers side ended the dominant Celtic's run of titles, halting their arch-rivals at nine in a row.
It is much-rumoured that Gerrard favours the Liverpool job one day and that he will want to succeed Jurgen Klopp. His contract at Rangers, after all, was scheduled to end at the same time as the German's at Liverpool.
Paulo Fonseca was also in the running for the vacant position at Villa Park, while Gerrard's old England teammate John Terry had also been mentioned. The former centre-back was an assistant under Smith and recently set up a Twitter account, fuelling rumours of him going back to the club in a managerial capacity.
