A Shelvey tribute to Gerrard rarely goes unnoticed at Liverpool. Jonjo Shelvey has called Steven Gerrard the best player he ever shared a dressing room with, and he has the lived experience to back it up. The two were teammates at Anfield for three seasons.
Shelvey made 69 appearances for Liverpool before his move to Swansea City in 2013, but his time on Merseyside clearly left a mark. His latest comments add another entry to Gerrard’s reputation as the dressing room benchmark.
Shelvey on Gerrard: ‘I wanted to be him’
“When I was at Liverpool, I lived next door to him as well,” Shelvey said. The closeness went further than most teammates would admit to. “From my bathroom you could actually see into his living room,” he added.
Gerrard did not just live nearby either. He helped get Shelvey to work.
“He’d give me a lift into training,” Shelvey said, describing a routine that turned a senior pro into something closer to a mentor.
Before any of that, Shelvey was simply a Gerrard fan.
“I grew up watching a DVD about his career, so I knew everything about him. When I was a kid, I’d watch this DVD the night before my games to inspire me. I wanted to be him,” he said.
Other Liverpool players have spoken about Gerrard in similar terms over the years, as our Gerrard praise piece shows.
Steven Gerrard was the best
Shelvey’s view did not stay fixed in boyhood admiration once he left Anfield. Facing Gerrard as an opponent gave him a different measure of the man.
“Later in my career I enjoyed playing against him as well, as it was the ultimate test,” Shelvey said.
“He was the best and had everything: defensively, shooting and passing,” Shelvey said.
Gerrard’s own numbers back up the Shelvey tribute to Gerrard without needing much embellishment. He left Liverpool in the summer of 2015 with 186 goals and 145 assists from 710 appearances, a record built from the same box-to-box role Shelvey describes.
Two years at LA Galaxy followed before retirement, then a route into coaching through Liverpool’s Academy and management jobs at Rangers, Aston Villa and Al-Ettifaq. Full details of that career sit in the original interview that prompted Shelvey’s comments.
Where is Steven Gerrard now?
Gerrard has not managed since leaving Al-Ettifaq in January 2025, and his own words suggest he is in no rush to change that. According to Gerrard, he is settled in his current routine.
“At the moment I am happy. I am doing TV with TNT. I have signed a new deal. I have got some other bits and bobs that I do, some commercial stuff. I became a grandad a year ago. I’m loving being around the family; I get enough time off. My work-life balance is great,” he said.
That contentment does not mean the door is shut. According to Gerrard, interest has not dried up, even if he is not chasing it.
“I’ve had quite a few offers and chats with teams and stuff, but at the moment I am really happy with what I am doing,” he said.
For Liverpool fans, Gerrard’s name keeps resurfacing as the standard other midfielders get measured against, much like the Gerrard comparison that followed one recent Anfield performance. Shelvey’s tribute fits that exactly: a former teammate, a former opponent, still measuring himself against the same man years later.
Meanwhile, Manchester City visit Anfield next on Sunday at 4.30 pm.
