Roy Keane says Steven Gerrard wouldn’t have lasted at Manchester United if he’d behaved at Old Trafford the way he did at Liverpool.
In 2004 and 2005, Gerrard came tantalisingly close to joining Chelsea after the Blues made him one of their top transfer targets. The midfielder even handed in a transfer request to try and force the move, but ultimately ended up staying put.
In 2008, Gerrard’s midfield partner at the time, Xabi Alonso, was pushing for a move to Arsenal and, according to former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, refused to take part in one of Liverpool’s Champions League qualifiers to avoid being cup-tied once his Emirates Stadium switch was confirmed.
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Chewing the fat with Benitez and Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher on Sky Bet‘s Stick To Football podcast, Keane insisted Gerrard and Alonso would have been ostracised had they pulled the same sorts of stunts as United players.
“Jamie, you’re a Liverpool lad. With Gerrard, sometimes a player wants to leave a club. But when they refuse to play or they don’t want to be cup tied, I’m surprised players don’t turn on them when they are gone,” the Irishman said.
“We wouldn’t have tolerated that at United. [To Benitez] I know managers can have a disagreement with the player and the player wants to leave. It is straightforward for managers, to deal with a player who is not doing what he is supposed to be doing, when everyone is mates with him.”
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(Image: (Photo by Jan Kruger/Bongarts/Getty Images))
Like Gerrard’s prospective move to Chelsea, Alonso’s transfer to Arsenal never materialised. However, the Spaniard did leave for Real Madrid a year later.
For much of Benitez’s six-year reign as Liverpool boss, the Merseyside club were seen as something of a stepping stone for top players. Big names like Alonso, Michael Owen, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres all left for clubs aiming to win the highest honours, and Benitez says his side simply couldn’t compete with the wealthiest of them.
Shedding light on Alonso’s refusal to play in 2008, the former Valencia boss explained that Liverpool were under financial pressure to sell players. “We needed to sell. Xabi had an agreement; he was talking with one club and had an agreement.
“We played Standard de Liege for a Champions League qualifier and we had Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva in the Olympic Games, Steven Gerrard had a lower back problem, so we had to play [Damien] Plessis and Xabi. Xabi had an agreement with Arsenal and didn’t want to get cup tied
“I told Jamie Carragher and Gerrard before the game that he had an agreement and doesn’t want to play, but he must because it is the most important game to qualify for the Champions League. Then when you were going out for the warm-ups, you said, ‘Poor Xabi.’ Not poor Xabi, he is playing for our club at this time. During the season he was our best player and didn’t go to Arsenal because he had to play [for us].”.
Earlier this year, Alonso, who’s currently managing Bayer Leverkusen, was linked with a dramatic comeback to Anfield as head coach, replacing Jurgen Klopp. However, the ex-Spain international decided to stay put, leading Liverpool to appoint Arne Slot instead.