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Steven Gerrard: Liverpool players ‘shocked’ at captain leaving club
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard’s decision to quit the club at the end of the season was “a big shock”, according to Reds midfielder Jordan Henderson.
Gerrard, 34, has been at Liverpool for 25 years, but will leave on a free transfer when his contract expires.
“We’ve seen stuff in the newspapers on whether he will renew his contract but everyone thought it would be done,” Henderson, 24, told Football Focus.
“But it was a big shock to see that he will be leaving. No one had a clue.”
Midfielder Gerrard has scored 180 goals in 695 games for the Reds and helped them win the Champions League, the Uefa Cup, two FA Cups, three League Cups, one Community Shield and two Uefa Super Cups.
However, he has not started all matches this season and began the vital Champions League tie away at Real Madrid in November on the substitutes’ bench.
Gerrard, who won 114 caps with England, has said he will not sign for another Premier League team, but has been linked with a move to Major League Soccer in the United States.
Henderson said Liverpool will miss Gerrard’s strengths on and off the field.
“It will be difficult because he is such a leader of our group, such a figurehead, and has been for many years,” added Henderson. “We just have to try and deal with it the best we can.”
Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005, beating AC Milan on penalties in the final in Istanbul
Former Reds striker John Aldridge, who scored 63 goals in 104 games for the club, says Liverpool will not find a direct replacement.
“It’s a day I have been dreading for a long time,” Aldridge told BBC Sport. “He will be hanging up his boots for Liverpool. His boots are unfillable.
“I played against Stevie when I was Tranmere manager and he was 16 playing for Liverpool Reserves against Tranmere Reserves.
“You knew he would be a star. I’ve been watching Liverpool play for 50 years home and away and he’s the best player I have seen for them.
“He is irreplaceable. It’s not just on the field, but also in the dressing room where he gets the best out of the players around him.”