'Ask Suarez, ask Torres' - Rio Ferdinand stuns host with Steven Gerrard claim as private DM shared

Rio Ferdinand on his 'Rio presents' podcast

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

Ferdinand snubbed 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

Ferdinand

“They’re the names, I’ve got Vieira, De Bruyne, Lampard, Keane, Gerrard, Scholes,”

“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.

“No, I wouldn’t (be saying different if 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.

“I can’t have it, I’m sorry. Tell me why, why is he better? I’m not saying it’s a big difference… I’m just saying if you go clip for clip, Gerrard does him.

“Forget titles… (De Bruyne) is the top assist man, I get that. But you can’t say that and totally disregard Gerrard’s ability to open teams up. Ask Suarez, ask Torres.

“Would they have achieved half of what they achieved if Gerrard wasn’t playing? Goals, you’re talking about goals, you’re talking about creating chances.

“You’re talking like Gerrard was a myth… it’s an outrageous rate of winning (De Bruyne’s Premier League title record), but still… I’m sorry.

“I love KDB, don’t get me wrong, but I’m putting Gerrard in there. I’m sorry.

“He’s a Liverpool player, he’s a Liverpool player! He’s a Liverpool player, we weren’t mates at England… I’m not doing mates, if it was Mates FC, Frank (Lampard) would be in there because I grew up with him…

“I’m not saying it’s big. Like if I picked any of the other three in there, there’s a fair argument for all of them.

“Lampard’s the best goalscoring midfielder the Premier League’s ever seen.

“He has to be disappointed not to be in there. But I’m choosing who I would pay to watch and who I’d want in my team.”

While Ferdinand might have snubbed De Bruyne in favour of Gerrard, he revealed that he received DMs on Instagram from the former Liverpool star sharing his admiration for a different Man City legend following their battles during their playing days.

Ferdinand revealed

“Steven Gerrard saw the Yaya (Toure) interview and DM’d me on Instagram the other day,”

“Talking about Yaya was the real deal. He said Yaya was a different type of problem than we’ve ever seen.”

“He did add a layer to that - ‘Especially at that stage of my career’. I think prime time Stevie in his own head would be going, ‘Nah, no-one can do that to me’.

“I think that plays a lot sometimes.

“Prime time Steven Gerrard and prime time Frank Lampard saw a different Roy Keane. But a young Frank Lampard and a young Steven Gerrard saw THE Roy Keane, who they couldn’t get near.”