Rio Ferdinand has slammed the lack of loyalty in football and used Liverpool's decision to let Steven Gerrard leave the club in 2015 as a prime example.
Fans often complain about players not being loyal and leaving their club at the first chance they get, Aston Villa fans for example weren't too happy with Jack Grealish when he left for Manchester City last summer.
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Manchester United legend Ferdinand agrees that there isn't any loyalty in the sport anymore, but he's also laid the problem at the feet of the clubs.
The former centre back was asked about the issue on his FIVE podcast and brought up the fact that it's also the teams who need to show loyalty, bringing up Liverpool's choice not to keep Gerrard seven years ago, instead allowing him to move to LA Galaxy.
"Let's look at the Steven Gerrard case, he's been loyal to them," Ferdinand said on his show.
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"He had obscene offers probably from Chelsea, they courted him, they tried every which way they could through players, and what not trying to get him and unsettle him.
"He became unsettled, flirted with the idea a little bit, but actually, loyalty probably made him stay at Liverpool. Whatever happened, he was courted by Chelsea
"He decides to stay, and then he gets towards the end of his career and the club don't want to give him a new deal."
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Brendan Rodgers had started using the midfielder less and less in his final campaign at Anfield, and he didn't start in the game with bitter rivals United towards the end of the season.
He came on at half time and was famously sent off just 38 seconds later, and the end of his time at the club didn't really get much better, losing 6-1 to Stoke City in his final game.
The then 34-year-old did want to stay at the club however, rather than move to the MLS, and Ferdinand believes he should have been allowed to stay at Liverpool.
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"Bearing in mind [he's] arguably the club's best-ever player, been apart of iconic moments at the football club and would have had so much to offer young players staying there from a culture, a mentality and somebody they can look at and identify as a local lad, but they let him go to LA Galaxy," the former England captain added.
"There was the ability for him to stay there as a player-coach and groom him into being a coach in the system that they've got or a manager, but they chose to do something totally different and allowed him to go to LA Galaxy.
"So when you talk about loyalty maybe if the club were being shown an element of loyalty there they might have gone, you know what, because of that loyalty he's showing us, we're going to give him a bit back at the end of his career."
Gerrard clearly hasn't held on to any bad feelings about the decision by the Reds to let him go, and remains a staunch supporter of the club.
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The Aston Villa manager was criticised for 'disrespecting' his current club after so openly supporting his former side at the Champions League final.
Topics: Premier League, Liverpool, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard
Ryan Sidle