Steven Gerrard includes Jude Bellingham, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic in his list of best midfielders

Steven Gerrard has named Jude Bellingham, Kevin De Bruyne, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic in his list of the world’s best midfielders.

The former Liverpool captain is widely regarded as one of the best midfielder’s in the history of the Premier League alongside the likes of Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and Frank Lampard.

But when asked to name is current list of top midfielders by Rio Ferdinand, Gerrard opted to pick Premier League players, with the exception of Bellingham who has impressed at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

‘Playing now… love Jude Bellingham, absolutely loving him,’ Gerrard told Ferdinand.

‘Kevin De Bruyne, without a shadow of a doubt. I’m going to go for attacking players.

‘Love Mason Mount, what he’s doing. Kovacic at Chelsea. I’ll go for one No.6… I love Fabinho at Liverpool and I love Rodri.

‘If I had to pick one of them, Kevin De Bruyne, for me, is an absolute specialist midfielder.

‘I see bits of all the top midfielders I played against in him, I think he’s a combination of them all, I think he’s top.’

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When asked to name the toughest opponent during his career, Gerrard replied: ‘It’d be Keane or Vieira.

‘Both are different in different ways, but you always knew you were in a game of football against those two.

‘Makelele I’d add to that as well. When I moved further up as more of a No.10 behind [Fernando] Torres, he was top.’

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