Two of Liverpool's greatest ever strikers. One man who played alongside both of them. And still, somehow, no clean answer. That is the beauty of the Fowler versus Owen debate, and Steven Gerrard's recent attempt to settle it has only made things more interesting.

This particular argument has been simmering for years, and both Fowler and Owen have been perfectly happy to throw fuel on it themselves. Fowler, speaking on Simon Jordan's Up Front show, was characteristically direct: "He was quicker than me, but in every other element of being a striker, I genuinely think I was better than him. He could say the exact opposite but that is just my opinion and my self-confidence. I was better in every aspect of being a striker. Michael wasn't the best player at Liverpool when I played, but I remember him coming through at the club and you could see that he was different class."

Owen's response was vintage Owen, understated, and quietly devastating. Rather than listing his achievements, he simply pointed to the managers who picked him. "I would expect him to say that. Listen, when I played for Liverpool, who did the manager pick? When I played for England, who did the manager pick? I mean, I don't have to say it – it was said for me." Two legends, two very different personalities, and absolutely zero chance of either one backing down.

If anyone has the authority to weigh in on this, it is Gerrard. He grew up watching Fowler from The Kop, Fowler and Jamie Redknapp were his heroes, he had the shirts, before eventually becoming his team-mate. He also played alongside Owen for a significant stretch of his career. Speaking on Open Goal, Gerrard gave the kind of nuanced take you would expect from someone who genuinely experienced both at close quarters.

"Fowler was a better natural finisher," he said. But when it came to pace, movement, and the kind of instinctive partnership that makes a striker truly dangerous, he edged towards Owen. "I had a real top connection with Michael Owen; it was like we were just on a wavelength together." He was also careful to acknowledge that his time with Fowler came after the injuries had already taken their toll. "I didn't play with Robbie when he was getting 30 goals a season. I came a bit later when he'd had his injuries and he wasn't the player he was when he was 18 to 23."

There is something telling in how Gerrard frames this. He does not declare a flat winner. Instead, he separates the two across different qualities, Fowler the purer finisher, Owen the more frightening all-round threat at his peak. His caveat about only seeing Fowler through the prism of injury and age is a generous one, and probably a fair one too. A fully fit Fowler in his pomp is a player Gerrard, by his own admission, only ever watched rather than played alongside.

His words about Owen carry genuine warmth, "up there with the best strikers in the world" before the hamstring problems changed everything, and that personal wavelength he describes is the kind of connection that tends to tip the scales in any honest comparison. If you are looking for Gerrard's true preference, it is probably Owen, but he is far too loyal to Fowler, the idol he once paid to watch, to ever say it outright. The debate, as it always has, will continue, and long may it do so.