Graeme Souness showed his loyalty to Liverpool when offering his perspective on one of the toughest debates in English soccer.
The ex-midfielder, who is a proud Scotsman and earned 54 caps during his glittering career, was asked in a 2012 interview who he felt was the best player from England’s so-called “Golden Generation”.
That team included the likes of Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, but Souness showed his Liverpool allegiances by naming Steven Gerrard above them all.
“If not the best… I’m trying to think over the last 10 years….I’d have him as number one” he told the Daily Mail.
“Frank Lampard is a great midfield player and scorer of goals but I think Steven has the edge on him – then you start to compare him with strikers.
“John Terry has been a great player for England but you can’t compare a midfield player and a centre-back.
“You say best but I think the question you have to ask is ‘Biggest influence on the team’?
(Image: Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
“I’d say that Steven Gerrard has had the biggest influence on the England team in the last 10 years.”
The former Red is widely considered one of Liverpool’s greatest-ever players despite not winning a league title during his playing days.
Souness, on the other hand, won five, and played alongside some of the club’s other legendary figures: Sir Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and Alan Hansen. But he feels Gerrard would still a spot in Liverpool’s all-time best XI.
“He would get in any team that Liverpool have had that I know of. He certainly would have got in the team when we played, when we were dominating the game,” Souness opined.
“For the best part of 10 years, he has been Mr Liverpool, he has carried a team through some sticky points.”
