Cesc Fabregas can count some genuine legends among his teammates at club and international level during his playing days, although there’s one ex-Liverpool icon he’d loved to have played alongside.
In a Q&A session with BBC Sport, the Spaniard was asked to name two midfielders with whom he’d have liked to play in a three-man unit in the middle of the park, he selected Andres Iniesta and Steven Gerrard.
Speaking about the Anfield great, the 37-year-old said: “He was someone that I looked up to when I was young. When I remember the first times that the Premier League was opening in Spain and we could watch games, he was very young. He was stepping into the Liverpool side.
“I had a Nokia. I remember one of the first phones that I had when I was young was this Nokia that you could change the face of and you could set up the screen.
“I remember I had Gerrard 17 and stuff like that when he was wearing 17 in the beginning. Yeah, I always said that he was one of the players that I would have loved to play with.”
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Fabregas having a graphic of the Liverpool legend’s name and then-shirt number on his childhood phone lays bare the huge admiration that he had (and continues to have) for the Huyton lad, who’s regarded by many of his peers as one of the best midfielders of his generation.
For a man who won the biggest prizes with Spain and also enjoyed tangible success at Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea to speak so highly of Stevie G truly illustrates the 43-year-old’s greatness.
You can view Fabregas’ comments on Gerrard below (from 4:50), via BBC Sport on YouTube: