Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has paid tribute to England skipper Steven Gerrard ahead of him earning his 100th cap.

Fowler said that Gerrard's potential to become a regular in England colours was obvious from the moment he emerged on to the scene at Liverpool.

"When Stevie first joined the first-team training at Liverpool he was a small, quite skinny lad," Fowler recalled in the Independent. "He shot up in size just before he got into the Liverpool first team and he had a few muscle injuries which stopped him making his debut sooner.

"What really stood out even then was how nothing would ever faze him, whether making his debut for Liverpool and then England.

"It's a well-deserved honour for him to get to 100 caps. He's been Liverpool's best player for many, many years. He should have been England's captain a long, long time ago. He can come across to people who don't know him as a bit surly at times, but he's the perfect captain for club and country."