Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has taken another swipe at former team-mate El-Hadj Diouf, reigniting their past feud.
Gerrard and El-Hadji Diouf played together at Anfield from 2002-2004 before the Senegalese left for Bolton, and it is abundantly clear they simply did not like each other.
On the day Gerrard announced his retirement from football, Diouf’s comments on French television once again opened a long-running dispute, which has now been ongoing for two decades.
Diouf has accused his former captain of being jealous, selfish and even a racist – which Gerrard vigorously denied – during a number of outrageous outbursts, while Gerrard has been open about the fact he was not a fan of the Senegalese’s approach to football and life in general.
Gerrard revealed his dislike of Diouf when his first autobiography was released in 2007. ‘I wasn’t Diouf’s number one fan,’ the then-Liverpool captain wrote. While playing with Leeds in 2012, Diouf addressed the claims, insisting ‘nobody’ at Liverpool could stand Gerrard, who made 710 appearances for the club and led them to Champions League victory in 2005.
And Gerrard has now revisited the feud, speaking to Rio Ferdinand on Rio Ferdinand Presents. The ex-England man was asked by his ex team-mate about recruitment at Liverpool during his time there, and brought his old enemy up.
‘We got recruitment badly wrong at times,’ Gerrard said. ‘Badly wrong at times.
‘I’ll give you one example. We had the chance to sign Nicolas Anelka or El Hadji Djouf. And we bought El Hadji Diouf on the back of a four to five game period in a World Cup when we could have bought someone on the back of five to six years. That was the decision.
‘I don’t know who made the final decision. That one example of us as a club getting it wrong because that is one of the biggest mismatches you could debate. El Hadji Diouf or Nicolas Anelka.
Anelka had played for Liverpool for a few months between December 2001 and May 2002, but joined Manchester City permanently in the summer of 2002 rather than sign for Liverpool, which is when Diouf arrived.
Ferdinand added: ‘Anelka is one of the hardest players I’ve played against. One of the top three hardest I’ve played against.
Gerrard responded: ‘And he came into our sessions, Anelka, coolest man ever. Calm, relaxed. You just knew he had that aura and that confidence in himself.
‘He was ready to win. He was ready to help Liverpool win more or get closer to you guys or wherever it was. Anelka was coming in and he was a level above. He was a level above.
‘A decision was made and honestly, it was a complete mismatch. That was one example, I’ll give you, where I couldn’t believe what was happening.’
Listen to the full Rio Meets Steven Gerrard interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
