Steven Gerrard has played for Liverpool since making his debut in November 1998
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says being told he will start fewer
games is the main reason he has decided to leave Anfield for America
in the summer.
Gerrard will join a Major League Soccer (MLS) club at the end of the season.
The midfielder, 34, told Liverpool's website:"The key conversation
was when the manager sat me down and said it was time to manage my
games.
"It was a very difficult conversation to have. I'm bright enough to
realise it is the right thing. I accept it."
Gerrard has started 17 of Liverpool's 20 league games this season.
Only Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson have started more.
But the former England skipper had to deny rumours of a rift with
boss Brendan Rodgersafter being omitted from the Reds' side which beat
Stoke in November - on the 16th anniversary of his debut for the club.
Gerrard added: "When you've been a starter and a mainstay in the team
for such a long time... I had an idea the conversation was going to
come at some time, but it was a painful conversation."
Gerrard in 'turmoil' over Liverpool exit
MLS club Los Angeles Galaxy have been mooted as a possible destination
for the former England skipper, but Gerrard said he is yet to agree
terms with a club.
"I'm not over the line with any team yet. I'm close and as soon as I
know, I'll make the announcement," he said.
A clearly emotional Gerrard said he had been "blown away" by the
reaction to the news that he is to end his long association with
Liverpool.
"I can't read much of the reaction at the moment. I keep switching the
TV over," he said.
"I didn't realise it would be as big as this. It's very flattering and
I'm very humbled by it. "
He also expressed regret that his association with Rodgers had not
begun earlier.
"I wish I'd met Brendan when I was 24 because I think I'd be sitting
here talking about a lot of titles that we'd won together," he said.
"Brendan came into this club when I was 32 years of age and it's a
shame that relationship didn't start 10 years ago."
Gerrard could join his former England team-mate Frank Lampard in the MLS.
Lampard, 36, left Chelsea last year to join New York City FC,but has
been playing for their co-owners Manchester City, where he will stay
until the end of this season.
Gerrard stressed that he is fully focused on doing his best for
Liverpool for the remainder of the season.
Gerrard's best Premier League goals
"These next six months are a very important period for myself and the
team," he said. "I'd love to leave this team with a top-four finish."
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has said the club should
have made more of an effort to keep Gerrard.
"Steven is not someone who would be comfortable just sitting on the
bench and, in that sense, he has made the right decision," Carragher
wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
"Still, I cannot help feeling Liverpool's hierarchy should have done
more to ensure he remained at Anfield."
Rodgers said he had wanted Gerrard to stay, and that the midfielder
wanted to carry on playing and was not ready to move into coaching.
Meanwhile, Reds midfielder Henderson says the club should aim to win
the FA Cup this season to give Gerrard a fitting send-off.
The 24-year-old told BBC Football Focus: "That'd be nice for him
because he deserves something like that for how good he's been over so
many years for Liverpool.
"That's what we hope to achieve and it would be brilliant for us as a
team and for him personally to get something in his last year."
Gerrard's 35th birthday falls on the day of the final at Wembley.
--BBC
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