With Steven Gerrard hanging up his boots at not only Liverpool, but also the Premier League, we are losing one of the great footballers who have helped to sculpt the league into what it is today. In the last few years, we have said goodbye to Gerrard, Giggs and Scholes.

As things stand you could argue that John Terry is the only remaining Premier League great who is still playing in England. Terry is probably the last remaining Premier League star who has been part of its backbone for so long, yet has remained consistently good. Love him or hate him - and believe me, many do - you cannot deny he was and is still important to the league.

Rio Ferdinand is up there in this category, but his team have been relegated now. It is genuinely sad to think that a player of his calibre is now no longer in the top flight, but when he signed for QPR, what did he expect? They were relegation candidates from the get go; they always are. They constantly struggle within the Premiership and never seem to learn their lessons from previous campaigns. They absolutely deserve to be playing Championship football next season, but sadly they’re taking Rio with them.

Frank Lampard was one of the greats, but he will be off playing in the MLS at the end of the season. Lampard extended his stay in the Premier League through a loan deal at Manchester City, NYCFC’s sister club. And with that, he burned all his bridges (no pun intended) with Chelsea. So he is yet another to have left the Premiership behind.

There are plenty of great players in the league, who will arguably go down in history but cannot be considered a 'Premier League great.' Such as Wayne Rooney, for example. We cannot hand him this accolade, I feel, as he is still under 30. But that is in no way undermining his incredible talent and everything he has achieved thus far. He is of a newer generation, who is ultimately replacing the greats of the league.

We are lucky to have witnessed such a magnificent footballing era, but it is evident it is coming to an end. Will there ever be another like it?

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