Gascoigne said of Gerrard: "He is oozing confidence at the moment in exactly the same way as Michael Owen, and that makes me proud, because they are English and so am I. It is good to see Steven giving his all for England, and I hope that continues."

The vastly experienced Gascoigne, who scored 10 times for England in an international career cruelly restricted by injury, offered the young pretender a few words of advice.

"I just said to him:"Enjoy every moment you get with England, and do all the right things to try and make sure you play in every game". That is still my approach, even though I am 34.

"I told him to make certain he is right for every game for Liverpool and England. If he does that, he will just get better and better. I kept myself right when I was a 21-year old at Tottenham, apart from picking up one bad injury. He is 21 now, and it seems to be happening for him the way it did for me. He is different class."

Gerrard looks certain to be a member of Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad to face Greece on October 5. TheFA.com will be featuring an interview with Sven later this week, ahead of the announcement of his squad which will appear here on September 30.