Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool made a big transfer mistake with French forward

Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool made a big transfer mistake with French forward Liverpool Transfer Mistake: Why Nicolas Anelka Could Have Joined Torres and Suarez in Anfield Folklore Liverpool have had elite strikers in the Premier League era. Fernando Torres did devastating damage in red. Luis Suarez went beyond that and bent games to his will. Steven Gerrard played with both and rates them accordingly. But when the conversation turns to missed chances, he goes somewhere else. He goes back to Nicolas Anelka. This is not nostalgia for its own sake. It is a hard football point. Liverpool had Anelka in the building in 2002, saw what he could do, then decided against keeping him. They chose El Hadji Diouf instead. One decision aged well, the other aged terribly. That is the reality. During his loan spell from Paris Saint-Germain, Anelka gave Liverpool exactly what top forwards are supposed to give, movement, control, threat and a sense that something serious might happen when the ball reached him. The numbers, five goals in 22 appearances, do not scream greatness. The performances told a different story. Anyone watching closely could see the level. Steven Gerrard makes clear Anelka verdict Gerrard has never hidden what he thought. Speaking on the Open Goal Podcast, he said: “It’s not the decision I would’ve made, I’d have took Anelka all day long,” “I loved Anelka, Anelka was class. His movement, his touch, he had a swagger. He’d done it at Arsenal, played at Madrid, he was in the French national team.” That is a player’s assessment, and those tend to matter. Dressing rooms know quality faster than boardrooms do. Gerrard is blunt about why Liverpool went the other way. “And, listen, with all due respect, Diouf had a fantastic World Cup, he’d had a really good World Cup. So you could understand why Liverpool maybe thought there was more in that in terms of buy, maybe sell further down the line. “Anelka had a little bit of baggage, if you like, with him. But if you’re talking about El Hadji Diouf and Nicolas Anelka, come on. Playing with him, he was just on it.” That last line says plenty. Liverpool gambled on tournament glow instead of proven class. Clubs do this more often than they should. They get seduced by short-term form, marketability, resale logic, narrative. The obvious footballer gets ignored. Anelka had tools to thrive at Liverpool Anelka arrived at Anfield with doubts around him. That happens when a player has already been through Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain before his mid-20s. The assumptions come quickly. Too much baggage, too much noise, too much risk. Fine. Then watch him play. He was quick without looking frantic, technical without overplaying, and smart in spaces that matter. He could stretch a back line and still combine cleanly. Gerrard saw all of it. Liverpool supporters saw enough of it too, which is why many wanted the move made permanent. Instead, Anelka left and later scored 30 Premier League goals across two seasons for Manchester City. Liverpool did not need hindsight to know they had let a proper forward walk away. Hindsight simply removed the excuses. Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez set brutal standard The harder question is whether Anelka could really have reached the level Torres and Suarez hit at Liverpool. Gerrard thinks the possibility was real. “I think if he would’ve had a longer stint at Liverpool, I think potentially he could’ve done as much damage as them,” he said. That is not casual praise. Gerrard puts Suarez at the very top. “But, listen, Suarez was off the scale. He’s the best player I’ve ever played with.” There is no ambiguity there. As for Torres, Gerrard remembers the peak version, the one defenders hated facing. “Torres had an 18 month period where he was unplayable, he was powerful from the waist down. Everything was so explosive, his movement. He was a winner. At Liverpool the main striker gets built up to be the top man and Torres just revelled in it, he loved it.” He adds a revealing detail from those years. “He used to come off the pitch and say to me ‘I just feel on top of the world here, the way the fans see me’. He was phenomenal, but I always say that I’d take Suarez just because he could do more.” Missed transfer still stands as clear error Gerrard’s final summary of Suarez is precise and savage. “I’ve seen Suarez occupy defences and midfields on his own, he’s that good. He’s just an absolute animal as well. Never injured, never in the treatment room. Trained the way he played, he was just desperate to be in the team. Two great boys as well.” Torres and Suarez earned their place in Liverpool’s modern striking history. The point here is that Anelka might have joined them. Liverpool had the chance. They passed. For a club that has made some huge transfer calls over the years, this one remains easy to judge. They saw a top-class striker up close and still picked the wrong man.