Danny Murphy has come to the defence of his former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard, insisting that the 43-year-old's move to Saudi Arabia is not motivated by money
Gerrard was appointed as the new manager of Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq on Monday
The ex-Liverpool midfielder had initially turned down the chance to move to the club last month, but has since reversed his decision and signed a two-year contract.
Murphy believes Gerrard's decision to take the job is motivated by a desire to improve his coaching
Murphy
"I spoke to him briefly when he was deciding the first time a few weeks ago,"
"He refused the job a couple of weeks ago. It's ludicrous in some ways to talk about it but he was wanting a football project that he knew he could have some sort of benefit from and actually learn something and actually improve his coaching and get back to work if you like.
"When he turned it down my instinct was that he's gone, 'there's an opportunity over here', which he thinks is going to be better for his long-term managerial career, which would make sense, forget finances.
"Because obviously, if you were to do a great job in the Championship for example and get a promotion, that's going to go on your CV. Whereas if you do well out in Saudi, it's kind of like [it doesn't mean anything], and if you do badly it doesn't really mean anything.
"So, maybe that opportunity didn't materialise, maybe they did just throw more money at it. My understanding of Steven generally is that he wants to succeed in everything he does and although we're all tempted by extra dough, he's got plenty of dough."
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