Wayne Rooney has named Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard as the ‘most complete midfielder’ the Premier League has ever seen. Both players are up there with the greatest to have ever graced England’s top flight. Rooney won plenty of titles with Manchester United, while Gerrard helped Liverpool to lift the Champions League and was an ever-present for nearly two decades.

The two players regularly joined forces for England and Rooney is convinced that Gerrard could do it all on the football pitch. In the latest episode of The Wayne Rooney Show, he was quizzed on the best midfielders he had ever played with or against. The former Red Devils striker reserved special praise for Gerrard in spite of their rivalry at club level during their careers.

“When you talk about the complete midfield player, there’s five really for me in the Premier League,” said Rooney. “Four I played with, one I didn’t. That was Gerrard, [Paul] Scholes, [Michael] Carrick, [Patrick] Vieira and [Frank] Lampard.

“The [most] complete midfield player out of them all, it has to be Gerrard. He could do everything. He played at full-back, he played in midfield, he played as a 10. He could tackle, he could shoot, he could dictate games, he could hit long passes.

“You see them [Liverpool] in that period with [Fernando] Torres when he’s become more of the assist man for Torres. He had everything as a midfield player. I would’ve loved to have seen him at United.”

Asked if his choice was controversial due to Gerrard’s status as a Liverpool legend, Rooney replied: “You have to be respectful and in terms of a midfield player that can do everything, he has to be the one you’d pick.”

The respect between them is clearly mutual, with Gerrard recently naming Rooney as his standout player when they both represented England.

Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on the Rio Meets podcast, the Liverpool hero said: “He is the best player I ever played with for England, hands down, because he could do so many things.

“I don’t see Wayne as a nine, I don’t see him as a 10. I see him as an all-round attacker because he can occupy a back four or a back five on his own.

“The only other striker I’ve seen do that is Luis Suarez, so Wayne is in the Suarez conversation for me. They’re direct. They’re similar.

“I’d say Torres and [Michael] Owen are more like myself, Lampard and Scholes. All different, but because we’re attacking eights, people debate it more than any other debate in the world.”