Steven Gerrard left England training 'battered' after encounters with football hardman

Steven Gerrard has revealed that he often left England training sessions in a lot of pain following after clashes with a famous football hardman.

Since the Premier League first started back in 1992, football fans have often debated who the biggest 'hardmen' in the country were.

Of course, when discussing hardmen, there are several names that immediately spring to mind, including the likes of former Manchester United captain Roy Keane and Everton legend Duncan Ferguson.

However, there are also many names that a fan may not instantly think of, but for those that have played against him they cannot think of anyone else.

And for Liverpool icon Gerrard, there was one man that really stood out after he regularly caused the midfielder to leave England training battered and bruised.

Steven Gerrard clashed with some of the hardest men in Premier League history. (Image: Getty)

While appearing as a pundit on BT Sport in 2018, Gerrard and former Arsenal star Martin Keown discussed the toughest players they had faced during their storied careers.

While Keown singled out former Newcastle United player Billy Whitehurst, Gerrard hit back to claim that Keown had been one of the roughest players he had clashed with, particularly during England training sessions.

He said: "He was tough, he used to wear red pumas in England training with studs in like that [referring to the length of Keown's studs].

"You'd come off and and you'd be like 'Mart, I thought we were mates? We've got a game on Saturday and I've got stud marks all over me!'

"He used to play in training like he did in games, so he didn't even know he was tough."

Steven Gerrard and Martin Keown represented England together. (Image: Getty)

Recalling his clashes with Gerrard in the Premier League, Keown replied: "I remember when he first got into the Liverpool first team he didn't have a respectful reputation.

"Arthur Cox said to me 'There was a tackle between you two and I thought the ball had a headache,' because he did put the tackles in, and he could take it as well."

Across their careers, Gerrard and Keown shared the pitch a total of 15 times, with 10 of them being as opponents in the Premier League and five as England teammates.