Rangers resigned to losing Gerrard as manager closes in on Villa move

Rangers are resigned to losing Steven Gerrard to Aston Villa and further developments on the manager’s future are expected within the next 48 hours.

Gerrard was quickly identified as Aston Villa’s number one target to replace Dean Smith and the English Premier League club are hopeful they can have everything in place to announce their new manager quickly.

It’s understood Gerrard is set to take his backroom team with him to Birmingham. Compensation is not believed to be an issue.

Villa sacked Smith on Sunday after a run of five consecutive defeats and a number of names were linked with the vacancy.

The club’s chief executive Christian Purslow knows Gerrard well from their time together at Liverpool and is keen to hand him the responsibility of lifting Villa up the table.

Villa are currently in 16th place in the Premier League table but are aiming to make an impact at the top end of the game.

While the Liverpudlian is known primarily in England for his career with club and country, his achievements in Glasgow in his first job as manager have persuaded Villa that he can succeed in Birmingham.

Gerrard arrived at Ibrox in 2018 with the target of ending Celtic’s dominance of domestic trophies. The former Liverpool captain revamped the Rangers squad and led them to the knockout stages of the Europa League two seasons running before lifting the league title in his third season in charge.