Chelsea declared their interest in signing Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard in 2004, a move that was fueled by Blues boss Jose Mourinho who had a real admiration for the England midfielder.
Gerrard certainly considered the move but ended up staying at Liverpool, his boyhood club that he was also a supporter of. But the profile of Mourinho and the fact he was such a highly successful manager at the time, turned the head of one of the best midfielders in the world at the time.
Chelsea and Gerrard continued to have this ongoing rivalry and although there was a clear mutual respect, they were enemies.
It would have been a move that would have shook the world of football had it come off. But in the end, Gerrard just couldn’t leave the place that he fondly called home. Gerrard has been speaking about the decision on YouTube channel Jude’s Journey, with the presenter asking him..
Did you stay because those Chelsea fans weren’t going to love you as much as the Liverpool fans? Gerrard said: “I’ve never really thought that deep into it. I think the Liverpool fans played a huge massive part, me connection and me love for playing in front of them, you know, feeling like I belong to this city. “I always want to be able to go back to Liverpool I want to be able to take my little kid to the matches. I didn’t want to cause upsetting them in any way.
“But I’ve said on many occasions that I think when a manager like Mourinho shows you attention, you know he’s proved that he’s a manager that can win things it’s always going to turn your head.
“Rightly or wrongly at the time I believed that I made the right decision. Speaking to the people around me I made the decision that I wanted to stay at Liverpool. “I realised that winning trophies for Liverpool would mean more to me than any other club, not just Chelsea.”