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Jens Lehmann says midfielder Chelsea signed on a free was even better than Steven Gerrard

Charles Jones

Fri 28 February 2025 16:15, UK

Chelsea have had some incredible midfielders over the years.

From Frank Lampard to Claude Makelele to Michael Essien, the Blues have had some remarkable midfield players.

Of course, Lampard is perhaps the best of the bunch, and, throughout his career, the England international was always compared to one man – Steven Gerrard

Lampard and Gerrard were always compared in their primes, and they’ve even been compared as managers too.

However, speaking to TalkSPORT, Jens Lehmann has now made a claim about another former Chelsea midfielder and Steven Gerrard.

Indeed, when taking part in a TikTok challenge, Lehmann actually picked Michael Ballack over Steven Gerrard.

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Jens Lehmann picks Michael Ballack over Steven Gerrard

Lehmann was asked to pick between a number of German and English legends.

As you can imagine, Lehmann did show a bit of bias towards his own country.

The Arsenal legend was asked to pick between Ballack and Gerrard, and, interestingly, he picked Ballack.

Lehmann also made a few more interesting claims about some legendary players.

Michael Ballack compared to Steven Gerrard

This is a very interesting debate around two of the greatest central midfielders of the 21^st century.

Gerrard and Ballack were two players who could do it all, and it is interesting to compare the two in terms of achievements and statistics.

Ballack won more than Gerrard in his career, but the Liverpool legend did score more and assist more than his German counterpart.

Ballack was similar to Gerrard in a lot of ways in that he was often a one-man army for his teams.

We didn’t see that so much at Chelsea where Ballack was a more rounded player surrounded by top talents, but during his early international career, Ballack was Germany’s most important player by a mile.

Ballack was so important to Germany’s run to the 2002 World Cup Final, and his goalscoring record for his country was remarkable for a midfielder.

Gerrard certainly has the greater legacy in England as he’s considered one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, but Ballack achieved a lot in Germany before joining Chelsea on a free transfer, and should also be mentioned among the great midfielders of all-time.

Joe Cole said Ballack was brilliant at Chelsea, and according to Lehmann, all things considered, he was a better player than Steven Gerrard.