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Ian Ayre insists Liverpool made a “substantial” contract offer to Steven Gerrard, and believes that playing time was the main reason behind his decision to leave the club this summer.

The Reds chief executive, though, expects Gerrard back to Anfield at some point in the future, and refused to rule out the idea of him returning on loan next winter.

Gerrard will call time on a glittering playing career at the end of the season, when he will join MLS side LA Galaxy.

The 34-year-old told the ECHO earlier this month that he had made the decision to leave following conversations with manager Brendan Rodgers, who had informed him that his game time would be tailored. He did, however, state that he would have signed an extended deal at Anfield had it been offered to him last summer, before that conversation with Rodgers had happened.

Ayre, speaking to Citytalk’s John Keith, said he believes it would have made no difference had Liverpool offered Gerrard a contract in the summer, and that it ultimately came down to what the player wanted.

He said: “We put a substantial offer to Steven to stay, which was of course very respectful. I think he’s been very open in the media in saying that it wasn’t about the contract or the money, as you would expect from Steven.

“We’d been in dialogue with Steven and his representatives for some time.

“One of the great things about Steven is that he has always had great people around him, and it’s been a very grown-up and professional process, despite some things that have appeared.

Read all our Steven Gerrard stories by clicking here

“As a Liverpool fan, there was never going to be a good day for Steven to leave. That day had to come, but nobody would happily face that.

“When you go through that process at the end of a player’s career, it’s very different to going through it in the middle or the start. We had the same thing with Jamie (Carragher) a couple of years ago,

“At that end of the programme it is not really about what Liverpool Football Club wants, it is about what Steven Gerrard wants. He ultimately made that decision himself.”

He added: “Let’s assume that we’d made that offer (in the summer) and that he’d signed it. I think we’d still be in the same position today.

“Just like any player, at any club, if he all of a sudden isn’t playing every week, they maybe start to think ‘maybe this isn’t the place for me now’.

“Steven may have signed that contract, but we may have been sat round now in the same position. We’ve had that before with very senior players. I had one come to me and say ‘I don’t really fancy this any more’

“Who knows how it would have played out? But I think Steven made the point last week that it (not playing every week) doesn’t appeal to him.

“So the fact that he would have signed a contract last season actually doesn’t make any difference. His point was that after playing every week, playing a bit-part role is not how he wanted to finish his career.

“He wants to finish on a high, and I am sure he will.”Gerrard has already stated that he would open to the idea of returning to Liverpool in the future, and Ayre insists that the door is still very much open at Anfield.

“I’ve said openly to Steven and his representatives, as have Brendan and the owners, that we see Steven as part of the family,” he said. “The fact that he’s leaving at the end of the season doesn’t mean it’s the last we’ll see of him at Liverpool.

“What that means, the details aren’t known yet. But we will keep a regular dialogue with him, and I hope we will see him here again in the long term.”Asked if that could mean a return on loan next January, Ayre said: “It’s conceivable. It happens a lot in MLS, and it’s something we talked to Steven and his representatives about.

“You can’t have someone who has so much of the club’s DNA in them, and just expect that it will go away.”

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The full interview between John Keith and Ian Ayre will be broadcast on Citytalk 105.9fm this Saturday at 6pm