Emile Heskey has heaped praise on Steven Gerrard, while revealing the player who helped guide the midfielder in his early days as a senior footballer.
Steven Gerrard became a legendary figure at Anfield, but he was not always the renowned superstar he is known to be today. In fact, the midfielder only became Liverpool’s captain a year before Emile Heskey departed.
Despite this, Heskey was impressed by his former teammate, who he claims was ready to step up and lead from a young age.
The ex-striker has also given Gerrard praise for his versatility in particular, as he was able to play in positions all over the pitch.
He told Beast Mode Podcast: “You see it on a training pitch, you see it in person. And you’ve got to remember he was playing right wing, sometimes right back at times. But you can see what he’s got and you can see the determination, the drive. You can see the passion. He’s ready to be a captain, leadership.
“That youthful energy will probably get you in trouble at times with tackles and stuff like that, but you can see what he’s about.”
Even though Gerrard showed levels of maturity beyond his years, he still needed to be mentored in order to reach his highest standard.
According to Heskey, there was one player who joined Liverpool towards the end of his career that Gerrard was able to learn from.
He added: “We brought in Gary McAllister and I think that was key because that gave him someone to focus on who’s experienced, you need that. You’ve got to remember we were young. I was 22, I was probably one of the older ones.”
McAllister was already a veteran in English club football, having spent 15 years playing for Leicester City, Leeds United and Coventry City before arriving at Liverpool.
The midfielder only spent two seasons at the club, but that was long enough to leave an impression on Gerrard and the pair would later join up again with a changed dynamic.
Gerrard made McAllister his assistant manager when he took charge of Rangers in 2018 and they continued working together when he made the switch to Aston Villa. Although he was once the young student, Gerrard became the main man calling the shots.
