Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand has become embroiled in a heated debate after insisting Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was a better player than Man City captain Kevin De Bruyne
Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard might have played for bitter-rivals Manchester United and Liverpool during their playing careers, but the former Red Devils star has become embroiled in a fiery debate on his own podcast after insisting the Reds legend is one of the three greatest midfielders in Premier League history.
The former England international left co-presenter Joel Beya aghast as he opted for Gerrard, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes as the greatest three – snubbing the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Patrick Vieira in the process despite his colleague’s animated protests.
But Ferdinand wasn’t for moving with the former United star putting club allegiances aside as he made it clear why he considered Gerrard a superior player to De Bruyne during a heated back-and-forth which left Beya holding his head in his hands
“They’re the names, I’ve got Vieira, De Bruyne, Lampard, Keane, Gerrard, Scholes,” he said when picking the greatest midfielders in Premier League history on the ‘Rio Presents’ podcast. “They’re my Mount Rushmore, my holy grail midfielders in the Premier League era.
“All these guys could single-handedly carry the whole team on their own. Any day, any month, any year. Rodri will be in there in time, I think
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.”
After explaining his reasoning for picking former team-mates Paul Scholes and Roy Keane in his top three, Ferdinand said: “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.
their honours were reversed). We said who would you have as your best midfielders, who are your all-time Premier League players. I’m just saying who I prefer, that’s who I preferred.
“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) better than Gerrard? No! 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