A few days ago, former England legendary striker Irving was a guest on Ferdinand's podcast program, and the two had a conversation for nearly an hour. In the interview, Irving said: What makes him suffer is that no one remembers how he looked at him at his peak, but people only see their careers going downhill, and the worsening parts.

Ferdinand:

I remember you (when I was a child at the training base) came in to get the food and let everyone notice you. At that time, you had a kind of aura, maybe you were only 14 or 15 years old at that time. But at that age, do you feel like you have the so-called aura?

Irving:

Yes, that's right. What I want to say is that people may only see me, or just remember the later part of my career, when I was getting worse and worse.

What makes me painful is that no one remembers it. Only a few people remember what I was like when I was 10, 12, 15, 18, maybe until I was 22 years old.

I started going downhill around the age of 21. This is the pain: when I was 18 years old, was there any 18-year-old young man close to my level at that time?

I am far beyond anyone, anything of my age, and probably beyond all people in England who are about my age.

Then he entered Liverpool's first team and won the Golden Boot Award at the age of 17. I mean, don't mention it. Forget those achievements and forget everything.

Irving debuted at Liverpool and won the Golden Boot Awards in the Premier League in 97/98 and 98/99 consecutive seasons. He won the Golden Ball Award in 2001, but the early injury prevented Irving from maintaining his career. His career has been with Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle, Manchester United and other teams, and eventually retired from Stoke City.