'Stevie would grace any Liverpool team'
Graeme Souness believes Steven Gerrard's elite standards would not just have merited the midfielder a place in every modern team around the world but any in Liverpool history too.
Given that the Scot played in a Reds side that lifted three European Cups - one of which he hoisted aloft as captain - and five league titles, his assessment is quite the compliment.
But it's a verdict that Souness delivers readily, his respect for Gerrard evident from the very moment that he begins to speak of the No.8 who gave everything to the club over 17 years.
"A leader, extremely talented and a scorer of great goals," the 62-year-old explains in the new LFCTV documentary 'Gerrard: My Liverpool'.
"And someone who you would pay just to watch him.
"You would go and pay your money because Steven Gerrard was going to be on the pitch, because you were always going to come away with a memory of something he had done.
"I don't think you ever went to watch Stevie and came away thinking he had a quiet game - there was always something in your head you would remember.
"He would be in any Liverpool team, he would have to be up there with the very best players that Liverpool have ever had, undoubtedly."
After 710 appearances, 186 goals and almost two decades of memories, Gerrard departs Anfield this summer to undertake a new challenge with LA Galaxy in America.
Throughout his Liverpool career, the Englishman had spurned advances from the heavyweights of the world game, choosing to rinse all of his ability for the club he loves.
"The way I would describe a great player is someone who could go and get into any team in the world," says Souness.
"There were a good five or six years where Steven could have done that, and I think that says everything.
"He could have gone to Real Madrid, he could have gone to Barcelona, he could have gone to Juventus or the big Italian teams at the time, and got in their team and would have been welcomed.
"And that puts him down, in my book, as a great player - one of the world greats."
Click here to see our special Steven Gerrard tribute>>
Having skippered the Reds during the 1980s, Souness understands the particular pressures and demands Gerrard has shouldered as Liverpool captain.
That he has lived up to those expectations with the armband for more than 10 years merely increases the appreciation one of his predecessors in the role feels for him.
Souness adds: "He leads by example. I don't think he's a growler, I don't think he goes around shouting at people.
"He was so good that it was very hard for anyone, if he did have a go at someone, to have a go at him because he was so good - he led by example.
"Everything he was asking of others, he could do and did on a regular basis.
"It's a unique feeling to be captain of the club and what the club stands for. Being captain of Liverpool means so much. He has served his club very well as a captain.
"I don't think anyone can look at Steven Gerrard and say that he didn't perform as a captain.
"In every sense of the word - how he has lived his life off the pitch, how he has reacted on the pitch to both disappointment and glory - he has been a fabulous captain."