“They chose to do something totally different” – Rio Ferdinand accuses Liverpool of not being ‘loyal’ towards Steven Gerrard

Former UEFA Champions League winner and prominent pundit Rio Ferdinand has slammed Liverpool for being disloyal towards club legend Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard made his first-team debut for the Reds back in 1998. After a career spanning 17 years at Anfield, the Englishman departed his boyhood club to join Major League Soccer (MLS) side LA Galaxy.

Ferdinand, who played against his compatriot multiple times during his time with Manchester United, believes Gerrard was more loyal to Liverpool than vice-versa. The six-time Premier League winner said on his "FIVE" podcast on YouTube (as quoted by the Liverpool Echo):

"He's been loyal to them, he had that obscene offer we're hearing from Chelsea. They courted him, they tried every which way they could through players and what not trying to get him and unsettle him. He became unsettled, flirted with the idea a little bit, but actually, loyalty probably made him stay at Liverpool."

Ferdinand continued:

"Whatever happened, he was courted by Chelsea. He decides to stay, and then he gets towards the end of his career and the club don't want to give him a new deal."

He further went on to say:

"Bearing in mind [he's] arguably the club's best-ever player, been part of iconic moments at the football club and would have had so much to offer young players staying there from a culture, a mentality and somebody they can look at and identify as a local lad, but they let him go to LA Galaxy."

Ferdinand added that the Reds should've shown "an element of loyalty" towards Gerrard:

"There was the ability for him to stay there as a player-coach and groom him into being a coach in the system that they've got or a manager, but they chose to do something totally different and allowed him to go to LA Galaxy."

The former England defender concluded:

"So when you talk about loyalty, maybe if the club were being shown an element of loyalty there they might have gone, you know what, because of that loyalty he's showing us, we're going to give him a bit back at the end of his career."

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Steven Gerrard is one of Liverpool's greatest players of all-time

Gerrard remains one of the most iconic players to have worn the Liverpool jersey. During his 17-year stay at Anfield, he racked up 709 appearances across all competitions for the Reds, scoring 185 goals and laying out 151 assists.

The Englishman also won multiple major trophies, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup (twice). Gerrard lifted the FA Cup twice and the EFL Cup thrice, but a Premier League winners' medal repeatedly eluded him.

Regardless, the 42-year-old will undoubtedly go down as one of Liverpool's greatest ever players.