Gerrard admits Torres quitting Liverpool for the Chelsea 'broke my heart'

Steven Gerrard admits Fernando Torres 'broke his heart' by sealing a £50million move from Liverpool to Chelsea in 2011 as the pair were performing well in the midfielders prime.

Spanish striker Torres, who scored 81 goals in 142 appearances at Anfield, moved to Stamford Bridge on a dramatic 2011 deadline day leaving Gerrard behind to play for four-and-a-half more years on Merseyside alone.

When asked which striker he preferred playing alongside out of Torres or former Reds striker Luis Suarez, Gerrard opened up about the heartbreak of seeing the Spaniard leave Anfield just as the Reds were gunning for the Premier League title.

Gerrard told the Robbie Fowler podcast: 'I didn't play with Torres long enough because he went to Chelsea and broke my heart. If you asked me who was the best player on a daily basis consistently, Suarez was an animal but my best years were alongside Torres in terms of how I felt.

'I was really, really gutted (when Torres left). We're working so hard at this point to try and get as close as we can to close the gap and challenge.

'At Liverpool at the time it always felt like we were taking huge strides and getting close and progressing really well, and then at a really key time and a key moment for the team and the group, a big player gets taken away and it takes time to recover from that.

'My relationship with Torres, I was getting a lot of goals at that time. I was at my peak and felt fantastic.'

Torres moved to Chelsea but failed to have the same impact in front of goal that he had at Liverpool, scoring 45 goals in 172 games but the striker did win the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League in west London.

Gerrard claimed he tried his best to keep Torres at the club and spoke to both the player and his agent about convincing them to stay.

The former Liverpool captain added: 'I understand everyone's situation is different. People have dreams and different paths and they're not all local lads who love the club. I appreciate and respect all that, but at the same time it still hurts when someone leaves a club.

'I've told Fernando that. I tried to get him to stay. I told his agent the same.

'They were both at Melwood but they made a decision and that decision was out of my hands. It hurt a lot.'

Gerrard insists that Suarez and Torres were his favourite strike partners over the likes of Fowler and Michael Owen as the first two played alongside the former Liverpool and England captain in the prime of his career.

He added: 'The reason I always talk about Torres and Suarez is because I felt like I was in my prime at that time. I played with (Fowler) when I was very young, I was still raw, I was still developing.

'I played with Michael Owen when I was a little bit further along but I still didn't feel I was in my peak years. I was still getting injury niggles and still finding my feet and my profile.

'I bumped into Torres and Suarez at the perfect time. More Torres because I'm in my peak years in those 2006, 07 and 08 years when I felt like I could go against anyone on the pitch.

'It didn't matter who it was. I felt like I could face anyone at that time. I felt like I was at my peak. They're my best memories from how I felt from a personal point of view.'