El-Hadji Diouf has never been the most diplomatic footballer in the world and it seems he has failed to mellow in retirement.

In fact, his latest comments about Liverpool icon and now Under-18 manager Steven Gerrard are bizarre to say the least, leading to Diouf comparing himself to Diego Maradona.

No, seriously.

To give some context to the situation, here's what Diouf had to say about Gerrard back in 2015.

"It’s common knowledge. Gerrard has never liked black people," Diouf said. "When I was at Liverpool, I showed him I was black, that I wasn't English, but that I'm no pushover. All the time I was there, he never dared looked me in the eye."

After that less than subtle accusation of racism, Diouf rubbed plenty of salt into Gerrard's gaping wounds following his infamous slip against Chelsea in 2014.

"When I arrived at Liverpool, seeing as I just did what I wanted, he thought that I did not respect the club. But he downright killed his team by slipping against Chelsea. If Liverpool has never won the Premier League, it's no accident. What goes around, comes around."

So, hardly best of friends right? Well, during an interview with the BBC back in his home country of Senegal, Diouf would make some pretty extraordinary claims.

"He is a strong character and I am a strong character," Diouf started. "'Stevie G' was a very good player. People like him in Liverpool but he never did anything for his country. I am Mr. El Hadji Diouf, Mr. Senegal but he is Mr. Liverpool and Senegal is bigger than Liverpool and he has to know that.

"We put Senegal on the world map," he said about the 2002 World Cup, when Senegal were knocked out by Turkey in the quarter-finals after beating then-world and European champions France in their opener.

"Before the World Cup nobody knew Senegal, but after the World Cup, everybody wanted to know where Senegal was. What Maradona did for his country is what I did for Senegal. I was one of the biggest men at the 2002 World Cup."

This is the same Diouf who was relegated with Doncaster from the Championship and only managed three Premier League goals for Liverpool in 55 appearances.

Nevertheless, by his standards, Gerrard had an inferior career. At least on the international stage anyway.