Steven Gerrard has been confirmed as the new Aston Villa manager.

After almost 200 games in charge of Rangers, winning the Scottish Premiership title, the Liverpool legend is returning to the Premier League as Dean Smith's replacement at Villa Park.

Having enjoyed a successful spell in Glasgow, the impetus is now on Gerrard to prove himself as a manager in one of Europe's top leagues as he continues to be linked with a future Liverpool return.

Gerrard: Future Liverpool boss?

Whenever Gerrard has been asked about reuniting with the Reds, he has always been respectful of Jurgen Klopp, but surely it seems inevitable that his dream will come true at some juncture.

Besides, if Gerrard can prove himself in the Premier League with Villa then there would be no reason for the Merseyside club not to rehire one of their greatest ever player when the time is right.

And that time might well be 2024 because that's when Klopp's current deal at Anfield expires with the German having previously said that he'll take a year-long break when his deal comes to an end.

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Klopp out, Gerrard in

Obviously, only time will whether both Gerrard succeeds with the Villans and Klopp does indeed wave goodbye to Liverpool in 2024, but you get the feeling that the stars are starting to align.

As such, here at GIVEMESPORT, we wanted to put our optimistic hats on for Gerrard and imagine a future where the 41-year-old is indeed unveiled as the new Liverpool boss in the summer of 2024.

And from there, we've tried to picture how his Liverpool XI might shape up by looking at the ages of the current Reds players as well as imagining who they might sign over the next three years.

Gerrard's potential Liverpool XI in 2023

Is it ultimately a wild punt into a hypothetical 'what if? reality? Yes, of course it is, but don't deny that it's an intriguing premise and we've done our best to keep the potential line-up nice and realistic.

So, sorry, Liverpool fans, but Kylian Mbappe and Erling Braut Haaland won't be leading the line as we take a look at the Reds' potential starting XI under Steven Gerrard in 2024 down below:

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The reasoning behind the XI

Wow, we've really been inventive with the back five, haven't we? Well, that's because Liverpool have youth on their side in that department, so we don't expect there to be too many alterations.

Trent Alexander-Arnold will be entering his prime at 26, Joe Gomez will be coming into his own at 28, Andrew Robertson will be fit and firing at 31 and Alisson Becker will still be pretty young for a goalkeeper at 32.

Admittedly, Virgil van Dijk will be getting on a bit at 33 years old, but we're backing him to still be holding his own for the Reds given his fantastic physical attributes and Ballon d'Or-competing talent.

Meanwhile, further up the pitch, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott have both shown us more than enough ability to suggest that they'll make the grade for Liverpool and Gerrard would surely back the youth.

That being said, we do expect Liverpool to bolster their midfield ranks and we reckon that Wilfred Ndidi would be a shrew coup with his contract due to expire in 2024 when he's in his prime at 27.

We initially thought of Federico Valverde, but with the Real Madrid star having recently signed a new deal until 2027 with an astronomical release clause, the Reds would have to turn elsewhere.

Moving on and we couldn't resist picking at least one marquee signing, which comes in the form of Jude Bellingham, who has long been linked with Liverpool and would do wonders for their engine room.

And finally, with Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino due to be comfortably into their thirties when Klopp's contract expires, we're predicting that the famous front three will have broken apart.

Nevertheless, we think that Jota, then 27, will still be doing the business as a wide forward and that Alexander Isak would be exactly the type of dynamic forward that Liverpool would want leading the line.

And breathe. So, there you have it, we hope you enjoyed our wild and wacky trek into the future of Premier League football and we don't doubt for a second that this will look ridiculous come 2024.

ENTER GIVEAWAY

You just watch, Klopp will be managing Aston Villa and Gerrard will be in charge of Everton, while Salah will be banging in the goals for Arsenal. Ok, maybe we're not that terrible at predictions....