More sage-like wisdom from El-Hadji Diouf.
El-Hadji Diouf has a very, very special place in the hearts of Liverpool fans.
The Senegalese striker scored a phenomenal SIX goals in 80 appearances for the club between 2002 and 2004, and pretenders like Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez could never quite live up to the standards he set during his short spell on Merseyside.
Diouf has now spoken out about Mario Balotelli’s putrid season at the club, insisting that the Italian failed at Liverpool because of the jealousy of one Steven Gerrard, who ‘never had Balotelli’s talent.’
“I told him not to go to Liverpool,” Diouf told L’Equipe. “It wasn’t made for him, that things couldn’t go well with Gerrard, who has never had his talent and then said negative things about him.
“Gerrard is a jealous man who doesn’t like men of character. Mario is a good person that you should listen to. He’s not a guy who’s going to cause problems in the dressing room.
“There are a lot of things that have been made up about him. People tell tales about him, but they’re often a load of rubbish.”
Diouf, cruelly overlooked for a club ambassador role at Anfield in favour of plodders like Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler, added: “When (Balotelli) had problems at City, when he wasn’t playing, we talked. I told him that [his form] would come back. Of course it was hard for him, because he’s very sensitive. People perhaps don’t understand that.
“He was young when he arrived in England, you mustn’t forget that.”
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