Liverpool wanted to sell Steven Gerrard two years before he actually left the club, according to Michael Owen.
The legendary Kop skipper left Anfield in 2015 to sign for LA Galaxy in the MLS, but Owen believes that the Reds wanted rid of him some time before that.
As quoted in the Mirror, he said: “In Steven’s case, I severely doubt whether he really wanted to go and play in the States in 2015.
“I’ve heard that the club wanted him out two years prior to when he actually left.”
OPINION
This is a big, big claim from Owen, who seems intent on courting as much controversy as he can in his new book, which is being serialised in the Mirror before its release. First he went after Newcastle United and their fans, and now he has gone the whole hog and questioned Liverpool’s commitment to Steven Gerrard. To suggest that they wanted rid of him two years before he actually left seems a little strange too. Gerrard left at the end of the 2014/15 season to move stateside. In the two years previous to that, Gerrard played a total 63 Premier League matches, and averaged 1.7 tackles, 1.8 key passes, and a pass completion rate of 85% in his final year at the club, as per Whoscored. That hardly seems like a player who the club are trying to oust, and even though Gerrard was eventually given the shove, it seems mad to claim that there was some kind of long-standing plot to evict him.
