Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley has insisted Steven Gerrard did not join Chelsea because the Reds captain's only priority was to win the Premier League title with Liverpool.
Gerrard won numerous trophies at Anfield, but missed out on an elusive Premier League title, which he could not get his hands on during his 17-year period at the club.
The now Rangers manager came close to winning the title during the 2013/14 season when Liverpool finished second, with many holding their club captain responsible after a slip against Chelsea caused then Blues striker Demba Ba to go on and score, resulting in their title hopes being diminished.
Gerrard was wanted by Chelsea at various periods and would have won the title had he moved to Stamford Bridge, but Burley insists the only thing which really mattered to the Englishman was winning the title with Liverpool.
Burley stressed that players make decisions for their own reasons and Gerrard was not interested in leaving Anfield.
“If we are talking about priorities here, and I’m not saying this is right, but players make the decisions for whatever reason”, Burley told ESPN FC.
“His priority was to win the Premier League with Liverpool. Whether we agree or not, doesn’t matter.
“But that was his priority.
"If his priority was solely to win the Premier League, he’d have left and gone to Chelsea, when Chelsea were really pushing the boat out to try and get him.
"Of course, he could have gone and won La Liga or Serie A with some other European club.
“But if he wanted to win the Premier League, he could have gone to Chelsea, because they were big on trying to get him away from Liverpool.
“He didn’t want to go because he wanted to get it over the line at Liverpool. So that was his priority.
“His priority wasn’t just to winning the Premier League. His priority was to win it with Liverpool Football Club and unfortunately for him it didn’t happen.”
Gerrard won the Champions League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Community Shield at Anfield, with only the Premier League trophy missing from his cabinet.
