View 4 ImagesThe beef between Steven Gerrard and El Hadji Diouf continued after the latter left Anfield(Image: ANDREW YATES/AFP via Getty Images)
Steven Gerrard has rekindled his feud with former Liverpool teammate El Hadji-Diouf. The duo were colleagues at Anfield for two seasons after the Senegalese striker’s £10m transfer from Lens in 2002, before he was sent on loan to Bolton Wanderers in 2004 ahead of joining Sam Allardyce’s side permanently.
It has subsequently come to light that the pair didn’t see eye to eye, with accounts of them even having confrontations in the dressing room during a pre-season fixture. Appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Gerrard revealed his thoughts when Diouf completed his switch to Liverpool.
When questioned whether he was disappointed with Liverpool’s transfer approach during his stint at the club, Gerrard responded: “We got recruitment badly wrong at times. Badly wrong at times.
“I’ll give you one example. We had the chance to sign Nicolas Anelka [who had been on loan at Anfield] or El Hadji Diouf. And we bought El Hadji Diouf on the back of a four-to-five game period in a World Cup. When we could have bought someone on the back of five to six years. That was the decision.
“I don’t know who made the final decision. That one example of us as a club getting it wrong because that is one of the biggest mismatches you could debate. El Hadji Diouf or Nicolas Anelka.”
View 4 ImagesGerrard wanted Liverpool to sign Nicholas Anelka instead of Diouf(Image: The People)
Ferdinand then described Anelka as “one of the top three hardest” opponents he’d ever faced. Gerrard: “He came into our sessions, Anelka, coolest man ever. Calm, relaxed. You just knew he had that aura and that confidence in himself.
“He was ready to win. He was ready to help Liverpool win more or get closer to you guys or wherever it was. Anelka was coming in and he was a level above.
“He was a level above. And then a decision was made and honestly, it was a complete mismatch. That was one example, I’ll give you, where I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
It isn’t the first occasion Diouf and Gerrard have publicly expressed their differences. In 2023, Diouf told the BBC that while Gerrard was “a very good player,” he never achieved legendary status for his nation in the manner that he did for Senegal.
View 4 ImagesDiouf’s Liverpool career didn’t live long in the memory(Image: Press Association)
The striker played a pivotal role for his country during their remarkable 2002 World Cup quarter-final run, including their stunning victory over France in the tournament opener, where he provided the assist for Papa Bouba Diop’s decisive strike.
That achievement forms part of Diouf’s belief that he will be remembered more favourably in Senegal than Gerrard will be for his England career. Diouf said: “I have no problem with him. Gerrard is a strong character and I am a strong character.
“‘Stevie G was a very good player, people like him in Liverpool, but he never did anything for his country. I am Mr. El Hadji Diouf, Mr Senegal, but he is Mr Liverpool and Senegal is bigger than Liverpool and he has to know that.”
Gerrard had previously stated Diouf “did not care about football and about Liverpool” in his autobiography, while a former Liverpool teammate revealed they nearly came to blows during a half-time team discussion.
View 4 ImagesGerrard says Liverpool made a mistake by signing Diouf(Image: Rio Ferdinand Presents)
Speaking in 2020, Florent Sinama Pongolle revealed: “Half-time of a pre-season game. Fight between Diouf and Gerrard. I was traumatised. Can you imagine the young ones seeing this and thinking that’s what professionals are like at that level?
“At half-time, in the dressing room. Stevie G is all like, ‘You have to pass, you have to pass’ and [Diouf] just loses it. He didn’t speak English. His English was rubbish. You know what he did? They hated each other so much.
“Steven Gerrard arrives, he insults Diouf. ‘Hey, you f******’. And [Diouf] couldn’t answer, so he grabs Gerard Houllier and says, ‘Tell him, I’ll f*** his mum’. He came in and said, ‘I’m not his mate, I’ll do him in straight away.'”