El-Hadji Diouf’s latest rant: Mario Balotelli failed at Liverpool because of ‘jealous’ club legend Steven Gerrard says former Reds striker
Diouf told l'Equipe he warned Balotelli his career at Anfield would stall thanks to influence of midfield titan Gerrard
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EL-HADJI DIOUF has fired his latest rant at Steven Gerrard, claiming Mario Balotelli failed at Liverpool because of the "jealous" club legend.
Former Reds striker Diouf told French paper l'Equipe he warned Balotelli his career would stall at Anfield thanks to Gerrard.
Gerrard is a jealous man who doesn't like men of character
El-Hadji Diouf
Diouf said: "I told him not to go to Liverpool. 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.
"Gerrard is a jealous man who doesn't like men of character. Mario is a good person that you should listen to."
Balotelli started his new life in France by scoring a brace in his Ligue 1 debut with Nice and was named Man of the Match, sending his new club joint-top with Monaco on 10 points.
Diouf also said he has always been advising the Italian, who said called his £16million transfer to Liverpool "his worst mistake in life".
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He added: "He's not a guy who's going to cause problems in the dressing room.
"There are a lot of things that have been made up about him. People tell tales about him, but they're often a load of rubbish.
"He was young when he arrived in England, you mustn't forget that.
"When he had problems at City, when he wasn't playing, we talked. I told him that it [his form] would come back.
"Of course it was hard for him, because he's very sensitive. People perhaps don't understand that."
Diouf, now 35, has previously alleged Gerrard was racially biased - saying the Kop legend "never liked black people."