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LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp has reiterated that former club captain Steven Gerrard is always welcome at Liverpool, but insists that nothing is imminent regarding a possible return to the club. Gerrard, 36, announced his retirement from professional football on Thursday after leaving LA Galaxy earlier this month. The midfielder, who made 710 appearances for Liverpool before leaving in the summer of 2015, has continued to be linked with a return to Anfield following the end of his 18-month spell in Major League Soccer. Klopp was repeatedly asked by reporters about Gerrard at a news conference later on Thursday, previewing the weekend's game against Sunderland, and grew frustrated as he believed there was little to discuss on the subject. "I'm not sure you'll be surprised when I say this is not the room where I want to speak about this," Klopp said about Gerrard returning to Liverpool. "It's not because of you personally! "When [there is] something is to announce, we will announce and then we talk. One day in the future there will be something to announce, that's pretty sure too. But until then there's nothing to say." After a follow-up question, Klopp added: "Look, obviously you are all not satisfied with the question of the person next to you so you tried it again. Steven Gerrard, 186 goals -- each goal is a story, if you want. "The first thing that maybe you should all learn if somebody wants to help Steven Gerrard, stop being so excited about each next step he's doing. Because everything in life you need the space and the room to jump in, to learn something new. If he is retiring as a player then the next thing he will do is new. "There's nothing to talk about. I'm absolutely the wrong person to talk about to tell anything about it because maybe all of you know him better than I do. "But what I said and that's a law, the door is always open for him. From our side, if he wants [an] open door, which I'm sure he will, and if he wants to make whichever career then we want to help him. "That's how it is but nothing else to say and maybe that was already too much." Klopp, meanwhile, felt he was not in a position to judge Gerrard's talents as a footballer, having only encountered him on one previous occasion -- a preseason friendly in the summer of 2014 while head coach at Borussia Dortmund. However, the Reds boss praised the personality of Gerrard after he trained with Klopp's side last November to keep fit during the MLS offseason. "I'm only here 14 months so how could I be the person who can say how big these are [to Liverpool]?" Klopp said. "I have met a few [legends] and I met Stevie already, he's a great person and far away from wanting to be a legend or be handled like a legend. "He's a completely normal guy and it's nice having him around. [It's] good to hear that he is back in town and all the rest we will see. "He's a top player and it's not important what I think. It's important what the people think. I like him as a person. I saw him once playing live in a stadium -- when we lost here with Dortmund 4-0. It was not my best experience in football and that's all. "But stop using me for stories about Steven Gerrard. You don't need me. If you want to write something, write it -- he deserved it. But don't use my name because I have no idea. I like him and I'll give him all the help I can if he wants, that's 100 percent sure. "Stop talking about this here because it won't help Steven, it will not help me. So why should we talk about this?"
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