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Celtic are preparing to make LA Galaxy-bound Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard an offer to join them on loan in early 2016 during Major League Soccer's off-season, writes Tom Hopkinson in the Sunday People.

Kop idol Gerrard, 34, will complete a lucrative move to the United States in the summer.

With the MLS season running from March to December, that will free him up for around three months from the start of next year and Glasgow giants Celtic are interested in signing him when the January transfer window opens.

Gerrard knows the door will remain open for him to train with Liverpool between MLS seasons and, if the circumstances are right for both the player and the club, that a chance to return on loan will materialise.

But Celtic are aware that the former England skipper, who has spent his whole career at Liverpool, has already ruled out the chance of joining any other Premier League club - and Sunday People Sport understands conversations have been held in the corridors of power at Celtic Park about offering him a short stint in the Scottish Premiership.

Steven Gerrard's career in pictures:

Gerrard confirmed at the start of the year that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season and said then that lining up against his old club, "is something I could never contemplate."

He will join up with MLS champions LA Galaxy, and his former Reds team-mate Robbie Keane, in either June or July having signed an 18-month deal.

His ex-England colleague Frank Lampard is also set to complete his move to

MLS at the end of the Premier League campaign when he joins expansion team New York City.

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Lampard was due to move to the Big Apple earlier this year to kick off the new US season but, controversially, the Chelsea legend extended his stay at Manchester City until the end of the season.

He twice played against his old club this season, scoring against them in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad in the first game.

That has given bigwigs at Celtic hope of luring Gerrard north of the border for a short spell before he returns to California for the 2016 season.