Steven Gerrard has reignited his feud with a former Liverpool teammate who claimed that "nobody" liked him.
Gerrard played 710 times for his beloved Liverpool, scoring 186 goals and captaining them to Champions League success with an incredible performance in the 2005 final against AC Milan.
He is the embodiment of Liverpool but one of his former colleagues did not speak about him positively - with El Hadji Diouf making a series of outrageous claims about Gerrard over the years.
The Senegalese played with Gerrard at Anfield between 2002 and 2004 before moving to Bolton.
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In his 2007 autobiography, Gerrard admitted that he "wasn't Diouf's number one fan", claiming he was "just interested in himself" and his attitude was "all wrong".
In an appearance on French television in 2012, Diouf responded and claimed that was "no one more selfish" then Gerrard, branding him jealous and egotistical while stating that he "spoke to the major figures at Liverpool and nobody can stand him".
Gerrard fired back in another book called 'My Story', stating that Diouf "sealed his place at the top of the list of Liverpool signings I liked least" and "cared nothing about Liverpool".
He also referenced a spitting incident Diouf was involved in against Celtic and was later forced to consult his legal team and can categorically refuting extraordinary racism claims from Diouf, who told Senegalese radio station Radio Future Media that Gerrard "never liked black people".
Diouf has taken swipes aplenty at Gerrard since then and now in an interview with Rio Ferdinand Presents, the former England captain ignited the war of words by using him as an example of Liverpool getting recruitment "badly wrong".
He spoke about the club signing Diouf instead of Nicolas Anelka in what he called "one of the biggest matches".
"We got recruitment badly wrong at times," Gerrard explained.
"Badly wrong at times.
"I'll give you one example. We had the chance to sign Nicolas Anelka or El Hadji Djouf. 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."
Anelka had been at Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Real Madrid prior to joining Liverpool on loan, with Ferdinand calling him "one of the hardest players" he had come up against in his career.
He made a surprise switch to Manchester City at the end of his loan spell, later representing Bolton, Chelsea and West Brom in the Premier League - where he scored 125 goals.
Gerrard added: "And 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.
"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."
Topics: Steven Gerrard, Liverpool, Premier League, Rio Ferdinand
Josh Lawless