El Hadji Diouf says he should have signed for Man Utd, not Liverpool

El-Hadji Diouf: Hit out at Gerrard

El Hadji Diouf has further alienated himself from Liverpool fans with a new outburst.

The striker, now 37, has had a long-running fued with Steven Gerrard and now the controversial forward has claimed he wished he’d signed for Manchester United rather than the Reds in 2002.

The Senegal forward was signed for £10million from Lens by Gerard Houllier ahead of the World Cup and his impressive form in the tournament in Japan and South Korea had fans at Anfield excited.

However, he netted just six goals in 79 appearances over two seasons and his spell was blighted by controversial incidents, one of which resulted in a ban after he was found guilty of spitting at the crowd against Celtic.

And now Diouf, when asked by RMC Sport which club he regretted playing for, he said: “I would say Liverpool.

“Because if I had the chance again I would go to Manchester United or Barcelona. At the time they wanted me also.”

Diouf, who claimed Gerrard was an “egotist” also bad mouthed Jamie Carragher and once claimed he “hated” his former team-mate.

Diouf also claimed Mario Balotelli failed at Liverpool because of the former Reds captain’s “jealousy”.

 

Speaking to L’Equipe in 2016, Diouf, who has previously claimed that Gerrard “killed” the club, said that Balotelli struggled because of the erstwhile captain.

“I told him not to go to Liverpool,” Diouf said. “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,” he said.

“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.”

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