The leaving of Liverpool is not easy, and nor should it be.

We all know there is a football pyramid, and the prestige of Real Madrid and Barcelona has put them at the tip of it for a long time. Then you have the group of multiple European Cup winners just below including AC Milan, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Manchester United, constantly jockeying for position, suffering their highs and lows but always a pull for the top players and managers.

Those footballers who are good enough to have established themselves as icons at those historic clubs might believe there is only one small step left to take to get to the biggest in the world, but making that next move is still risky.

What is gained in the short term can be sacrificed in terms of a legacy once a career is over, and although it might sound like a cliché to say you are “part of family” once you are loved by the fans of the biggest, most storied clubs, it is true.

There are many examples of truly great players who gave stellar service everywhere they went but no longer feel emotionally attached to anyone. It is not necessarily right or fair. It is just how it is, because supporters will differentiate between those perceived to be putting the club first in the ongoing fight to take on the superpower of Real Madrid, and those who were accused of thinking about their own career.

Owen is the obvious one. His relationship with the Kop fractured after he left Anfield. Paul Ince was another when he left Manchester United. Was Ince as big an influence on the rise of United under Sir Alex Ferguson as Roy Keane? I would argue yes. They were both brilliant midfielders, but only one is seen as “Mr Manchester United”.