Steven Gerrard to sign with the LA Galaxy

Early this morning during an interview with the Liverpool website, Steven Gerrard confirmed he's in talks with teams in the USA and intends to sign.

Gerrard: "I’ll be going to play in USA. I’m not over the line with any team yet. I’m close & as soon as I know, I’ll make the announcement."

— Liverpool FC  (@LFC) January 3, 2015

Then, later in the day, Jeff Carlisle reported the following

BREAKING via @JeffreyCarlisle: Steven Gerrard to join LA Galaxy (18-month pro-rated deal, $6m per year). More soon on http://t.co/bCtGb5fcSR

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 3, 2015

According to reports, Gerrard will finish out the season with Liverpool and will make the move to the Galaxy once the transfer window opens in July. This will leave the Galaxy to make do with out him for the beginning of the season.

Gerrard is not the box to box midfielder he once was, and has spent much of the season at Liverpool as a deep lying playmaker, similar to the role Beckham played for the Galaxy. Back in those days, Juninho would sit behind him to tidy up his lack of defensive effort, freeing up Becks to strike long diagonals from deep lying positions, unlocking defenses.

Of course, since his departure, the Galaxy have since cultivated a playing style that replaced the need for that Beckham role. Furthermore the counter-attack happy Galaxy teams which thrived during the Beckham era had an elite counter-attacking player to run onto those balls-- Landon Donovan.

Gyasi Zardes has shown an inability to read the game fast enough to thrive on the counter, and Robbie Keane is but one man and has no one to work in combination with. From a tactical standpoint, Steven Gerrard can not replace what Donovan offered, and Bruce may no longer possess the tools to build a team around that type of a player, barring some serious progress on the part of Gyasi Zardes. The fact that the Galaxy have to wait till July to sign Gerrard, further compounds the difficulties that Bruce will face when attempting to craft a playing style for next years team.

Barring any further signings, I'm simply not a fan of this move.