Ex-Liverpool man says Steven Gerrard better than Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne

A debate was held on on Talksport’s The Sports Bar show on Wednesday evening to determine the best midfielder in Premier League history. Many Liverpool fans would likely share Pennant’s point of view, as he chose Steven Gerrard for his pick.

Gerrard often gets compared to several of his fellow midfielders when it comes to conversations about Premier League greats. The likes of Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes have been frequently mentioned as his competitors in this particular debate.

Man City star De Bruyne has begun to see his name likened to the likes of Gerrard. The former Liverpool captain made 710 appearances for the Reds, scoring 186 goals across a 17-year playing career at Anfield.

De Bruyne sits fifth in the all-time Premier League assists list on 95. He has Frank Lampard (102), Wayne Rooney (103) and Cesc Fabregas (111) in his sights, but is still way behind Ryan Giggs (162) in the assists stakes.

But Pennant believes both Gerrard and Paul Scholes are ahead of De Bruyne as the best midfielders in Premier League history.

He told talkSPORT: “If you put Gerrard in this team now… Gerrard was the complete midfielder. He could defend like a centre-back, he could score goals and finish like a striker, he could ping like Scholes. He had everything to his game.

“That’s why I’m edging to Steven Gerrard. It’s close.”

When asked for his top four, he added: “I’d picked Gerrard, Scholes, KDB and then I might stick in Frank at fourth.”

He added: “You put Kevin De Bruyne in a very average football team, like you did in the World Cup and everyone was saying ‘where has De Bruyne gone’, he can’t do what Steven Gerrard did in an average team.

“You put Kevin De Bruyne in an average team, like you saw in the World Cup, and he goes missing.

“Steven Gerrard was playing in an average Liverpool team.”

Pennant also had a little dig at Chelsea legend Lampard, adding: “I’ve never rated Lamps. He’s a good player, don’t get me wrong, but he just scored goals.”

Our opinion

‘Kevin De Bruyne can’t do what Steven Gerrard did in an average team.’ 😳

Imagine Gerrard playing for Wolfsburg 😂 Kev made pretty average Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen teams look world class. As I recall. He also probably thinks Haaland would struggle in an average team.