Adored by those of an Anfield persuasion, Steven Gerrard has Liverpool coursing through his veins and, thanks to staying at the club for a large chunk of his career, is one of the club’s greatest-ever servants. But things were not always rosy at one of England’s most successful clubs.
Having accrued 710 appearances for the Merseysiders, spanning across a 17-year stint between 1998 and 2015, Gerrard played alongside a whole host of players, from the elegant Xabi Alonso to the 2001 Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen to the talismanic force of Fernando Torres.
That list of former teammates also includes the likes of El Hadji Diouf, a standout performer at the 2002 World Cup for his native Senegal. He earned a move to Gerard Houllier-led Liverpool on the back of international success but rubbed Gerrard up the wrong way during his 80-game stint.
Gerrard Names Diouf as ‘Worst Ever’ Teammate
‘I don’t really want to waste time thinking about El Hadji Diouf’
Diouf, who has since expressed regrets over not signing for Manchester United instead, signed in the summer of 2002 for a fee of £10 million from French side Lens. There was a buzz, by virtue of his performances in South Korea/Japan, around his addition, but all life quickly drained out.
Things between the Senegalese forward and authority figures at the club – think Gerrard and defender Jamie Carragher – were never too fruitful to tell the truth. And the engine room operator, writing in his autobiography called My Story, suggested that he holds no respect for the Saint-Louis-born striker.
Suggesting that Diouf is the embodiment of how a career can swiftly go downhill, he wrote: “I don’t really want to waste time thinking about El Hadji Diouf highlighting his wasted seasons as an example of how it can all go wrong.”
“Gerard Houllier, a very good manager and a usually wise judge of character, signed Diouf in the summer of 2002. Gerard bought Diouf for £10m from Lens – solely on the recommendation of his former assistant, Patrice Bergues, who had coached Diouf there.”
Gerrard then insisted that Houllier, who served Liverpool between July 1998 and May 2004, rushed to get his hands on Diouf and that he, alongside two other signings, were meant to boost the Reds’ chances of winning the Premier League.
“We had finished as runners-up to Manchester United the season before and a combination of Diouf, Salif Diao and Bruno Cheyrou was supposed to drive us to the title. It was probably the biggest waste of £18m in Liverpool’s history.”
Liverpool, despite adding the goal threat that Diouf had previously shown, finished fifth in his maiden season at Anfield and Gerrard insisted that he is firmly at the top of his least favourite signings from his memorable spell at his boyhood club.
We finished the season in fifth place and Diouf had sealed his place at the top of the list of Liverpool signings I liked least.
In fact, the Daily Post‘s headline suggested that Gerrard claimed that Diouf was the worst player that he ever played alongsideduring his illustrious career. “El Hadji Diouf was worst Liverpool FC player I played with says Steven Gerrard.”
Gerrard: Diouf had ‘No Interest’ in Football or Liverpool
The striker hit back upon the midfielder’s retirement
Gerrard – widely regarded as one of the most complete players in British football history – also wrote that Diouf seemingly had very little interest in becoming a footballer and referenced a ‘spiteful’ and ‘contemptuous’ incident against Celtic in 2003.
It seemed to me that Diouf had no real interest in football and that he cared nothing about Liverpool. For example, the way he spat a huge globule of gunky phlegm at a Celtic fan in a UEFA Cup match at Parkhead in March 2003 summed up his contemptuous and spiteful demeanour.
Diouf, who plundered 72 goals and 68 assists in his 509-game stint as a professional, was described as not ‘your usual footballer’ by his former teammate: “But after a while I decided Diouf simply wasn’t your usual footballer. It seemed to me as if football got in the way of his social life.”
Upon Gerrard hanging up his boots in January 2017 after spending his twilight period at LA Galaxy, Diouf made his feelings clear. “People told me at Liverpool, there were some guys you could not touch, but I touched them,” he said before adding: “That is why it was complicated for me.”
Albeit wildly confident, the now 44-year-old endured a decline post-Liverpool. He moved to Bolton Wanderers in 2005 after spending time on loan, between the respective summers of 2004 and 2005, at the then-Reebok Stadium. Spells at Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers, Rangers and Doncaster Rovers followed.
Gerrard, if he wasn’t already at that point, certified himself as a bonafide Liverpool legend and a player who performed a starring role in the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’. The pair, although they seldom say eye to eye, shared the pitch 66 times together and combined on just one occasion for a goal.
