Steven Gerrard says Jamie Carragher told him that he didn’t want to train with Luis Suarez after the striker’s first few Liverpool training sessions, as he was so good.
Speaking to Gary Neville for The Overlap, Gerrard said that Suarez was the best player he ever played with at Liverpool – even better than Fernando Torres.
“Suarez was just different. You just felt no matter who you were playing, you just had a feeling he was going to win you the game, every game, it didn’t matter who it was,” said the Liverpool legend.
Neville asked Gerrard whether he could tell straight away just how good Suarez was. The former Liverpool captain said it was pretty much an instant feeling.
“Straight away, within like first session, second session, it was almost like he trained the way he played,” said the 41-year-old.
“I remember walking off one of the main session we did with Carra and me and Carra were like “oh my God, this fella has got bundles, plenty.” I remember Carra saying “I don’t want to play against him every day in training” he was that intense in training.
“He could embarrass you, embarrass you with stuff I don’t think he knew what he was doing. He was a ricochet merchant, he’d run over you, he’d dominate you, he’d bully you.”
What a player Suarez was for Liverpool. Still going strong for Atletico Madrid at 35-years-old, too.
What could have been
It’s a shame that Suarez wasn’t part of a more successful Liverpool team during his years at Anfield.
He famously almost hauled the Brendan Rodgers’ team to the Premier League title in 2013/14. Suarez also picked up a League Cup trophy in 2012. But otherwise he and Gerrard were largely surrounded by mediocrity during their years together.
It’s a treat for the imagination to think of what Suarez and Gerrard could have done in a Jurgen Klopp team. The Uruguayan’s relentless work-rate would have surely fitted in with Klopp’s all-action approach.
As for Gerrard, he could have played in any team he wanted to during his best years. The Villa boss truly had everything you could wish for in a midfielder.
Ships in the night
That Gerrard missed Klopp by mere months at Liverpool must be a real source of regret for him.
By then Stevie was coming towards the end of his illustrious career. But to see the two working together for any length of time would have been truly iconic.
As it is, perhaps Gerrard will get the opportunity to work with his mate Suarez again. The 35-year-old is out of contract at Atletico this summer. After his admissions, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Gerrard try to bring the player to Villa.
The striker previously said that returning to England with any team but Liverpool would be hard. If there’s anybody he’d make an exception for though, it’d surely be Stevie G.
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