Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard may have been on opposite sides of the Manchester United-Liverpool divide, but Ferdinand has sparked a heated debate on his podcast by declaring the Reds legend as one of the Premier League’s top three midfielders ever.
The ex-England defender left co-host Joel Beya stunned when he named Gerrard alongside Roy Keane and Paul Scholes as the elite trio, overlooking stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Patrick Vieira despite his colleague’s fervent objections.
Ferdinand stood firm, setting aside club loyalties to explain why he rates Gerrard above De Bruyne in an intense exchange. “They’re the names, I’ve got Vieira, De Bruyne, Lampard, Keane, Gerrard, Scholes,” Ferdinand stated on the ‘Rio Presents’ podcast. “They’re my Mount Rushmore, my holy grail midfielders in the Premier League era.
“These guys could carry a team single-handedly at any given time. Rodri will get there eventually, I believe. I’m going to say Viera, Lampard and De Bruyne just miss (on my top three). They just miss out, yeah, they just miss out for me.
“The other one is Gerrard. Yeah (he’s above Kevin De Bruyne). “Just a player, as a player I love watching De Bruyne and he’s done some great things. Gerrard done things that others… it’s like Roy of the Rovers, no-one’s doing that.
“Stevie was jack of all trades, he was a swiss army knife, he could do everything. He could be the holder, he could be right-back, he could be right-midfield, he could be a number 10, and he could be an eight… All the others, Lampard, De Bruyne and Vieira could all get in there.
“De Bruyne’s not better than Gerrard on any day of the week. He’s not. I’m sorry, he’s not. He’s not, he’s not. I can’t have it, I’m sorry. Tell me why, why is he better? I’m not saying it’s a big difference… I’m just saying if you go clip for clip, Gerrard does him.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“Forget titles… (De Bruyne) is the top assist man, I get that. But you can’t say that and totally disregard Gerrard’s ability to open teams up. Ask Suarez, ask Torres. Would they have achieved half of what they achieved if Gerrard wasn’t playing? Goals, you’re talking about goals, you’re talking about creating chances.
“You’re talking like Gerrard was a myth… it’s an outrageous rate of winning (De Bruyne’s Premier League title record), but still… I’m sorry. I love KDB, don’t get me wrong, but I’m putting Gerrard in there. I’m sorry.
“He’s a Liverpool player, he’s a Liverpool player! He’s a Liverpool player, we weren’t mates at England… I’m not doing mates, if it was Mates FC, Frank (Lampard) would be in there because I grew up with him..
“I’m not saying it’s big. Like if I picked any of the other three in there, there’s a fair argument for all of them. Lampard’s the best goalscoring midfielder the Premier League’s ever seen. He has to be disappointed not to be in there. But I’m choosing who I would pay to watch and who I’d want in my team.”
Learn more
While Ferdinand might favor Gerrard over De Bruyne, he spilled the beans on an Instagram DM from the former Red, expressing high regard for another Man City maestro following their duels on the pitch.
“Steven Gerrard saw the Yaya (Toure) interview and DM’d me on Instagram the other day,” Ferdinand shared. “Talking about Yaya was the real deal. He said Yaya was a different type of problem than we’ve ever seen.
“He did add a layer to that – ‘Especially at that stage of my career’. I think prime time Stevie in his own head would be going, ‘Nah, no-one can do that to me’.
“I think that plays a lot sometimes. Prime time Steven Gerrard and prime time Frank Lampard saw a different Roy Keane. But a young Frank Lampard and a young Steven Gerrard saw THE Roy Keane, who they couldn’t get near.”
