Nine years on from his Liverpool exit and the Reds are still yet to fully replace Steven Gerrard.
The Reds have been incredibly successful in the years since Gerrard called it a day at his boyhood club.
However, the trophies won under Jurgen Klopp were largely built on a tremendous attack and some star quality in defence.
The midfield was also key to that, but it was always a more functional part of the Liverpool squad rather than being filled with the drivers that Gerrard used to be.
Dominik Szoboszlai is perhaps the closest thing to the Liverpool legend that the Reds have had since. But it really is not easy to emulate one of the greatest players in the club’s history.
Declan Rice earns Steven Gerrard comparison
Szoboszlai showed some early signs that he could be the heir to Gerrard’s throne at Anfield. He even chose to fill the icon’s old shirt number.
However, the Hungarian had a sticky end to his debut season. That has carried through into an underwhelming showing from Szoboszlai at Euro 2024.
The 23-year-old still has time to grow into the Gerrard comparisons, but we need to see a little more next season.
According to former West Ham and Newcastle midfielder Kevin Nolan though, there is one player at this summer’s tournament in Germany who has shown himself to be ‘the closest thing’ to Stevie G.
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Speaking on Sam Allardyce’s ‘No Tippy Tappy Football‘ podcast, Nolan claimed that Arsenal and England midfielder Declan Rice is the spitting image of Gerrard on the pitch.
“He’s the closest thing I’ve seen to Steven Gerrard,” raved the West Ham assistant manager. “I played against Gerrard for years and years.
“Dec is the closest thing, specimen wise. One minute you see him next he’s gone. He can play that higher role, he can play the lone role, he’s got a hell of a strike.
“I think he’ll grow into this tournament, he’s carrying a lot on his shoulders but he’s handled it well.”
Declan Rice nowhere close to Steven Gerrard
It must be said that Nolan is somewhat well placed to make this comparison. The Scouser saw Rice at close quarters across three years as West Ham’s assistant manager.
As he mentions, Nolan also faced Gerrard directly in midfield plenty of times during his playing career.
Despite that, we’re not having this comparison. Not at all. Gerrard is still compared to the likes of Andres Iniesta and even Zinedine Zidane.
The Liverpool academy graduate could do it all. His passing has been lauded as being better than Xabi Alonso’s while he could blast in 20 goals per season, too.
Rice is a very good player – there’s a reason Arsenal spent £105m on him last year – but he’s simply not on Gerrard’s level. Stevie had already captained Liverpool to a Champions League title by the time he was Rice’s age, and won several other trophies besides.
Going on just goals alone, for example, Rice’s career best is seven in a season. By 25, Gerrard had hit double figures three times, even bagging 23 in 2005/06. Sorry Kevin, but they are not the same.