After Lionel Messi finally ended his career-long wait to lift the World Cup, Steven Gerrard's comparison of former Reds midfielder Joe Cole and the Paris Saint-Germain superstar has not aged too nicely.
After ending his seven-year stay at Chelsea in 2010 and moving to Anfield on a Bosman transfer, it's fair to say that Gerrard was more than pleased with the Reds adding the one-time highly-rated Cole to their ranks during Roy Hodgson's first transfer window as Liverpool manager.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2010, the former Liverpool, England and LA Galaxy midfielder was quick to laud the Londoners' former No.10.
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"[Lionel] Messi can do some amazing things, but anything he can do Joe can do as well, if not better," said Gerrard. “He used to shock us in training by doing footy tricks with a golf ball that most players can't even do with a football. I really fancy Joe for the [player of the year] award this season."
After being sent off on his Premier League debut against Arsenal in August 2010, things very quickly went downhill for Cole on Merseyside as he struggled to produce the form that had once made him one of the most exciting talents in English football during his time at Stamford Bridge.
And as Liverpool desperately struggled for form under Hodgson, things went from bad to worse as the Reds found themselves in the Premier League's relegation zone in October, with defeats to Wolves and Blackpool still to come before the new year.
A 3-1 humiliation away to Blackburn Rovers in January 2011 would prove to be the final straw for the Reds' owners Fenway Sports Group - then known as New England Sports Group - as they dismissed the former Fulham boss and hired Anfield icon Kenny Dalglish for a second spell as manager.
Following the appointment of the legendary Scot, Cole would struggle to force his way into the Liverpool squad and would start only two league games under Dalglish. In the summer of 2011, Cole would be loaned to LOSC Lille for the entire season, where he impressed alongside then-Belgian prodigy Eden Hazard.
After returning to Anfield in the summer of 2012, Cole would spend just one more year on Merseyside before departing the club in favour of a move back to boyhood club West Ham United.
In fairness to Gerrard, after the manner in that Cole burst onto the scene in the early 2000s with both Chelsea and England, he had every reason to be excited by his arrival.
Perhaps such wild Messi comparisons slightly overdid it though, Stevie.
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