Steven Gerrard has claimed that it was "mission impossible" for Liverpool to find a replacement for Luis Suarez.

After scoring 31 Premier League goals in the 2013-14 campaign as Liverpool came agonisingly close to winning the title, Suarez was sold to Barcelona for a reported £75m, and the likes of Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert were unable to fill the void left by the Uruguayan.

Gerrard, who is preparing to begin the next stage of his career with the Los Angeles Galaxy, believes that the club will continue to struggle in their attempts to find a player as influential as Suarez.

"It was mission impossible for me," he told BT Sport. "I think even initially after Fernando Torres it was difficult to go and replace him straight away.

"Suarez came out of the blue. I didn't really know much about him but he was a phenomenal player.

"Who do you go and get to replace Luiz Suarez if you're Liverpool? You're going to have endless amounts of cash. And then does that player want to come with no Champions League? So it's difficult to replace him."

Gerrard was Liverpool's top scorer in the league last season with just nine goals.