Jermaine Jenas has delivered his verdict on who is the better player out of a former England midfield trio.
The debate about who was better out of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes has been going on since the trio midfielders retired and were in the primes of their playing careers.
Former Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder Jermaine Jenas has weighed in with his opinion and he began by describing what it was like to play against Gerrard.
He told GOAL: “Stevie treats you like you’ve walked into his house with your shoes on. That’s his vibe. He’s like you go to Anfield against Steven Gerrard. You’re going to know about it. He never let you down, basically.
“That’s why it was so hard to play against him in my opinion.”
Jenas then had his say on where Gerrard ranks amongst Lampard and Scholes and there was one clear winner due to the variety of their game.
“He’s the best of the midfield kind of trio that gets spoken about because of every element to his game,” Jenas continued. “He was just a different beast.
“And you couldn’t really stop Stevie because even if it was like, and you remember when we were, when I was playing the Premier League, it was me against you… Eye to eyeball, whoever wins this battle wins the game of type football.”
Jenas played for England over a period of six years, but he only made 21 appearances for his national side. Four of these were during the qualifying rounds of major tournaments, while the other 17 were international friendlies.
This was not necessarily a reflection of Jenas as a player, but of his competition. With Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes all competing at the same time, it was difficult for Jenas to make it as an England international.
While Jenas went down the route of broadcasting after his retirement, Gerrard opted to get his coaching badges and become a manager. He has been out of a job since earlier this year, but recently had the chance to return to management.
However, Gerrard has rejected a return to Rangers, who are without a manager since the sacking of Russell Martin.
It remains to be seen what Gerrard’s next step will be, but it will not be surprising if he does eventually get back in the dugout at some stage in the future.