Liverpool’s nightmare signing ranted ‘inform Steven Gerrard I’ll f*** his mum’

The contender for Liverpool’s worst ever signing notoriously didn’t get on with club captain Steven Gerrard, especially when he insulted the Kop legend about his mum

El Hadji Diouf was never far away from controversy during his Premier League career, but one furious confrontation with Steven Gerrard at Liverpool was extreme, even for him.

The Senegalese forward joined Liverpool in 2002 in a deal worth an estimated £10million and arrived with great excitement following his impressive performances at the World Cup that summer. But his move turned into a nightmare for the Reds and he was out the Anfield exit door for good just three years later, as fans wondered what on earth possessed Gerard Houllier to snub signing Nicolas Anelka in favour of a player with arguably half his talent.

Despite his reputation being marred for a string of controversies on and off the pitch, including spitting at a Celtic fan, possibly one of his biggest downfalls at Liverpool played out behind closed doors during a pre-season friendly. Diouf, who turned 44 on Wednesday, likely didn’t receive a birthday card from Gerrard, or the Reds legend’s mum.

To say that goalshy Diouf and the legendary Liverpool captain didn’t get on would be an understatement. It’s emerged in recent years that the pair couldn’t stand each other – despite sharing a dressing room for three years.

And former Reds striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who was also at the club between 2000 and 2003 alongside Diouf, once lifted the lid on an astonishing confrontation between the pair during a pre-season friendly.

Speaking to journalist Walid Acherchour, he said: “Half-time of a pre-season game. Fight between Diouf and Gerrard. I was traumatised. Can you imagine the young ones seeing this and thinking that’s what professionals are like at that level?

“At half-time, in the dressing room. Stevie G is all like, ‘You have to pass, you have to pass’ and [Diouf] just loses it. He didn’t speak English. His English was rubbish. You know what he did? They hated each other so much.

“Steven Gerrard arrives, he insults Diouf. “Hey, you f*****”. And [Diouf] couldn’t answer, so he grabs [former Liverpool boss] Gerard Houllier and says: ‘Tell him, I’ll f*** his mum’.”

Given that Diouf is no stranger to controversy, his explosive retort to Gerrard in the war of words isn’t particularly likely to stun anyone. The striker’s career was undermined by his shocking attitude, which has seen a number of former team-mates speak out against him in recent years.

Diouf was accused of spitting at both opposing players and fans on numerous occasions during his time in England. He’s also exchanged barbs with Reds icon Jamie Carragher in the past, with the former defender claiming that Diouf had “one of the worst strike rates in Liverpool history” after blanking in over 30 games in the Reds’ 2003/04 campaign and that he was “always picked last for training”.

But it’s the feud with Gerrard that really stands out from his time on Merseyside – and it’s one that Diouf couldn’t resist reigniting back in 2017. The bad boy bizarrely insisted that he was bigger than Gerrard due to his international accomplishments with Senegal in a comment with huge ‘my Dad’s bigger than your Dad’ energy.

“Gerrard is a strong character and I am a strong character,” said Diouf. “Stevie G was a very good player, people like him in Liverpool but he never did anything for his country. I am Mr El Hadji Diouf, Mr Senegal, but he is Mr Liverpool and Senegal is bigger than Liverpool and he has to know that.”

We’re not quite sure about that, but one that we are sure of is that the Premier League will never forget El-Hadji Diouf.