Michael Owen has described the concept of loyalty in football as 'b*******' and claimed Liverpool wanted to get rid of club legend Steven Gerrard two years before he left.
The former Liverpool striker also says in his explosive new autobiography that he came close to signing for their fierce Merseyside rivals Everton later in his career.
Anfield legend Gerrard first joined the club at the age of nine and played for 17 years in the Liverpool first team before leaving for American club LA Galaxy in 2015.
But, according to Owen in his book 'Reboot - My Life, My Time', Liverpool wanted Gerrard to leave sooner.
He writes: 'In Steven's case, I severely doubt whether he really wanted to go and play in the States in 2015. I've heard that the club wanted him out two years prior to when he actually left.
'I'm sure he would rather have wound his career down at Liverpool, playing increasingly fewer games until he reached a point where he could be integrated into the coaching staff.
'This only happened later in his case. But instead, because he'd become so symbolic and so powerful, I believe he was forced out in the short term. Steven was bigger than the club.'
Owen goes on to rubbish the notion of player loyalty to one particular club.
'Throughout my career, I've heard so many conversations from football fans about which player is loyal and which other player isn't,' he writes.
'To me, this is complete b******* and a way of thinking perpetuated by fans that are blind to the badge, as I see it.
'The truth is: most players just aren't as loyal as the fans like to think they are. While they're at their current club, they'll say they're loyal - they have to.
'But if another, bigger club came in for them offering a deal that could improve the lives of them and their family, then you'd see how loyal they really are.'
He goes on to say that Manchester United legends Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who didn't play for another club in distinguished careers, never had their loyalty truly tested.
'The reality is, they only stayed at their club because there was no obvious way to improve on their situation,' Owen writes.
'Manchester United were winning everything. Why would they leave? Their loyalty was never tested because there was nothing to test it with.
'Being a footballer, therefore, isn't really about this mythical concept of loyalty.
'Working in the media as I do now, I could name you a dozen players who were considered very loyal to a particular club but who now couldn't care less if that team won or lost.
'It's all for show - but fans just don't want to hear that.'
He reveals that he came close to signing for Everton after leaving Newcastle United in 2009, before eventually joining Manchester United.
Owen also writes about how he suffered abuse at the hands of the Kop when playing against Liverpool for Newcastle despite scoring 158 goals for the Anfield club.
'Every time I touched the ball, I got what seemed like wholesale abuse,' he recalls.
'How many people it actually was, I'm not sure. I was taken aback and more than a little hurt.
'After the game I was still upset - even more so when I discovered that my parents were very distressed too. They'd had to sit there while Liverpool fans abused their son.'
imroyan
30
I think he is right. Most of the people won't accept it but sadly it is the truth. Yeah, we do have a few exceptions which always will be. People will bash him for telling what he thinks and those who are saying that don't buy his book are the one who will not even buy the biography of most loyal footballers.