Ex-Liverpool player blames Gerrard and Carragher’s accent for forgettable spell

'I understood almost nothing.'

Former Liverpool forward Andriy Voronin has said that Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher's Scouse accents were the reason behind his forgettable spell at the club. Voronin joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen on a free transfer in 2007. After one campaign at Anfield, when he scored five goals in 27 appearances, the Ukrainian joined Hertha Berlin on loan for two years. Liverpool sold Voronin to Dynamo Moscow in 2010. He has since cited one major factor as to why he struggled at Anfield.

'When Carragher and Gerrard talked, I asked them to repeat it in English'

During an interview with GOAL in 2021, the Ukrainian explained that the Scouse accents at the club - in particular Gerrard's and Carragher's - left him struggling to understand his teammates. "I understood almost nothing, my English wasn't good anyway. When Carragher and Gerrard talked, I asked them to repeat it in English," he recalled. "Liverpool didn't suit me as a city overall, even though it has a lot of history to offer, such as the Beatles. My father is a big fan of the band. When I told him I had signed with Liverpool, he started crying."

Voronin struggled to cope with the English weather

The 42-year-old also felt that he struggled to adapt to the Premier League due to there being no winter break and that the weather was not to his taste. He added: "I also couldn't cope with the weather and the rhythm of the games without a winter break. I was just travelling and playing, which was very exhausting." Voronin retired from football in 2013 and had been working at former club Dynamo as an assistant manager, but left the club in March 2022 following the Russian invasion of his homeland. In a parting statement, the ex-forward said he couldn't "see any possibility of staying in a country whose army destroys our cities & fires at civilians."

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