Jamie Carragher caused quite the stir amongst football fans when he was asked to rank the 10 greatest Premier League central midfielders.
Appearing on Monday Night Football alongside fellow pundit Roy Keane, who featured on the list, Carragher named his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard as the best central midfielder of the Premier League era.
Despite never winning the title, he was placed above the likes of Paul Scholes and Frank Lampard with David Silva a notable omission.
Reflecting on the first time he ever watched Gerrard play, Carragher said: "Wow. What is this? It was his pace, his energy around the pitch. He basically came in and took Paul Ince's place as an 18-year-old!"
"His strength was that he didn't have a weakness. He could tick every box really. We spoke before about different positions and players playing a defending and attacking role and actually, when you think about the three roles now; Stevie could play all of them."
There has been a longstanding debate amongst English football fans in relation to the standing of Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard in the game.
For Carragher, this is simple, with Gerrard ranking four places higher than Lampard and six above former Manchester United midfielder Scholes.
All three scored more than 100 Premier League goals but it is Lampard who shines the brightest in this department, netting 177 times in England's top flight; making him the highest scoring midfielder in the league's history.
Also, while Gerrard famously never managed to win the title, the other two were prolific winners. Scholes lifted the Premier League trophy 11 times while Lampard was successful three times with Chelsea.
Keane - who came in just behind Gerrard in second - confessed that he would have placed Kevin De Bruyne at the top of his pile.
"It’s about opinions but he’s the first that springs to mind for me if I'm thinking about the greatest Premier League midfielder," said Keane.
Carragher, speaking on the omission of Silva, explained: "When I was given this list, the one I argued that shouldn't be in there - despite being one of my favourite players - is David Silva."
"When I think of David Silva, I think of left midfield. David Beckham, for me, is a great midfielder but he was a right midfielder. I wouldn't expect him to be on the list, even though he did play centrally at times, I class him more as a wide midfielder."
Jamie Carragher's top 10 Premier League central midfielders
- Steven Gerrard
- Roy Keane
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Patrick Vieira
- Frank Lampard
- N'Golo Kante
- Paul Scholes
- Yaya Toure
- Rodri
- Cesc Fabregas
