Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has questioned Steven Gerrard's imminent appointment as coach of Al-Ettifaq.

The Liverpool legend and former Aston Villa manager is in Saudi Arabia to finalise terms.

"The only legitimacy and validity that the Saudi Arabian football league has is money," he told talkSPORT. "If there wasn't enough money on the table and it was a footballing decision, Steven Gerrard wouldn't be going there. He's not going there for footballing reasons.

"We talk about Graham Potter being at Ostersunds, he is not Steven Gerrard and does not come with the same expectations so it is not a fair comparison to say 'other coaches weren't out to other parts of the world and came back and recalibrated people's thinking about them'.

"I don't think of Steven Gerrard the footballer anymore I only think about him as a manager, I couldn't care less about him as a footballer. I only care now about the charges and the task that is put in hand and nothing about him going to Saudi Arabia will give him a career path in people's minds that gives him an opportunity to come back to football and be a mainstream manager in serious football in this country.

"A Rafa Benitez going over to China, well he's got a body of work that means he's got a bag of money and he can still come back because his previous work will stand him in good stead. Gerrard's will not and his tactical nous in Scotland did not translate to his tactical nous in the Premier League and so he can go to Saudi and fill his boots with tactical nous with inferior players.

"No one's going to be looking at what he did in Saudi Arabia, people are just going to think 'he's been away for two or three years and there is no relevance to him now' and I think it's a dangerous move for him, in the same way that it think in the same way I thought going from Rangers to Villa was a dangerous move."