Today, Xabi Alonso took to Twitter to deliver a farewell message upon his upcoming retirement at the end of this campaign.
The 35-year-old Spaniard is hanging up his boots after a career which saw him win silverware with Liverpool, Real Madrid and his national team.
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League titles, Champions League, the World Cup and European Championships – he won it all.
As news was breaking on Sky Sports, our former goalkeeper Chris Kirkland offered some insight into Alonso’s ability, claiming he was almost as good as Steven Gerrard, probably our greatest ever midfielder.
“He was an absolute gentleman. I never knew how good he was until I saw him in training. He never gave the ball away, worked his socks off and was great in and around the changing room,” Kirkland told Sky Sports.
He always wanted to get involved and be a part of the squad.
“And his playing ability was right up there with Stevie [Gerrard].
“He is one of the best players I have ever played with.”
While the pair were at the club, Gerrard was undeniably the superior and more important of the two.
Our former captain scored more goals, won games on his own, tackled, passed and covered every blade on the pitch.
But since Alonso left in 2009, it’s the Spaniard who enjoyed the better career.
In that time, Gerrard won a League Cup with Liverpool, while Alonso consistently won major trophies with Europe’s biggest clubs.
If anything, it goes to show how lucky we were to have Gerrard for the vast majority of his professional career, as he literally could’ve chosen any club on the planet to play for.