Steven Gerrard has admitted he was “devastated” to leave Liverpool months before Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at Anfield.

Gerrard was offered a one-year extension at Liverpool for the 2015-16 campaign – Klopp’s first season in charge – but turned it down in favour of a move to play for LA Galaxy in the MLS.

Brendan Rodgers, Gerrard’s manager at the time of his departure, had told the Reds legend that his game time would be reduced.

But with the benefit of hindsight Gerrard says he would have “put up with four to five months of Brendan to get six months of Klopp”, who came in four days after Rodgers was sacked from his post in October 2015.

In a video posted by The Anfield Wrap on TikTok, Gerrard said: “I was devastated. I obviously made a decision not to sign a year extension to go to America, whereas if I’d took the extension, I might have got six months under the guidance of Jurgen Klopp.

“But obviously being under Brendan’s management at the time, I was getting told my game time was gonna get less and less. I didn’t wanna be a sub for Liverpool, I didn’t wanna be a squad player. I still felt that I was the best midfielder there at the time.

“But in hindsight, if I’d have knew what was gonna come off, 100%, I’d have signed the year extension, and I’d have put up with four to five months of Brendan to get six months of Klopp, for sure.”

Gerrard played over 700 games for Liverpool, scoring 185 goals, asserting himself as a club legend by winning three League Cups, two FA Cups, the UEFA Cup and Champions League in his time at the club.

Gerrard played for LA Galaxy in the 2015 and 2016 campaigns, making a total of 39 appearances in all competitions, and scoring five goals.

Now manager of Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq, Gerrard now leads a team that includes another former Liverpool skipper, Jordan Henderson.

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Competing with more than just Turkey, Saudi Arabia faces tough odds in courting Tesla to set up factory in kingdom

Recent reports point to Saudi efforts  to woo US electric automaker Tesla. But these efforts face tough odds including stiff competition in the region and beyond.

Speculation to this effect was revived by a Wall Street Journal report on Monday according to which Saudi Arabia is in early talks with automaker Tesla to set up a manufacturing facility in the kingdom.

The WSJ report, which was denied by Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk on his X platform, came just hours after the latter met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who asked him to build a vehicle factory in Turkey.

One of Saudi Arabia’s assets has been its plan to acquire the right to purchase quantities of precious metals and minerals Tesla needs for its electric vehicles from countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, the WSJ said.

Tesla would fit nicely with the kingdom’s diversification strategy as it tries to shift its economy away from oil, while its sovereign wealth fund is the majority investor in Lucid Group, one of the EV startups looking to challenge Tesla’s dominance of the industry.

Riyadh also faces a few handicaps. The kingdom may easily provide the location and finances. But there are questions about its ability to provide inexpensive and well-trained workers regardless of their nationality. Saudi policies favour employment of domestic labour even when that comes at a high cost.

If Tesla is courted by many nations including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and India it is because its shares are up 123% so far this year and the automaker on Saturday said it had produced its five millionth car.

Musk was quoted as saying during his meeting with Erdogan that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla and that Turkey was among the most important candidates for its next factory, an assertion not confirmed by Musk himself.

Erdogan also said during the meeting that Turkey was open to cooperation on artificial intelligence and Starlink, the satellite internet venture of Musk’s SpaceX, the communications directorate said.

Musk was quoted as saying SpaceX wished to work with Turkish authorities to obtain the necessary licence to offer Starlink satellite services in Turkey.

Musk said in May Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of 2023. It currently has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state.

Tesla in August expressed an interest in building a factory in India that would produce a low-cost electric vehicle.

Tesla has a goal to sell 20 million vehicles a year by 2030, up from around 1.3 million in 2022.