IT is quite the feather in the cap of any player if Steven Gerrard considers you a footballing superstar, but it is his assessment of Jermain Defoe’s human qualities that will likely have the modest Rangers star blushing.

Defoe may have 57 England caps to his name, scoring 20 goals, and hold the accolade of being the seventh highest scorer in English Premier League history, but the only hint to his achievements around the Hummel Training Centre is the deference paid to him by the younger players in the Rangers squad.

According to Gerrard though, as impressed as they are by what he has done in the past, and the respect they have for him for his enduring propensity to find the net, it is the time Defoe voluntarily spends trying to improve them that will have a lasting impact on his fledgling prospects.

“He is a bona-fide superstar but not just as a player, as a professional,” Gerrard said. “We are so lucky as a club to have him here. For many different reasons.

“He [helps the younger players] without us even asking. That is the part of Jermain that we are so lucky to have. He’s got time to help the younger lads, to guide them in the right way, to talk about his own experiences.

“When we take academy players over [to train with the first team], the number nines and those in similar position to him, he’s always got his arm around them and he stays behind, gives his own time up to coach them without any push from ourselves. We watch and just think: ‘Wow. That’s superb from him’.

“There’s no falseness with Jermain. He’s honest, open. The younger guys in the group, Jermain is like a magnet. They are all round him. They are looking up to him. They see the career that he’s had but also what he’s like as a person, what he gives them back around the place.

“Ask all the staff - the laundry girls, the physios - how are you finding Jermain? Across the board it is always the same.”

Another aspect of Defoe’s weekly routine behind the scenes in training that has taken Gerrard back a little is his continuing drive for self-improvement despite being firmly in the veteran stage of his career.

“Jermain Defoe would be well within his rights to say to me, look, I am feeling a bit tired at my age,” he said. “He’s never ever come to me with stuff like that. It’s always us saying: ‘Come on, Jermain, you’ve done enough’.

“He’s always out there still working on his left foot, his right foot. Trying to create situations that he’s going to face in the game.

“He asks defenders to defend against him in a certain way. He asks goalkeepers to create certain situations.”

Given that there is a little more than two years separating Gerrard and Defoe, and the fact they were England teammates and peers for many years, the transition of their relationship to manager and player could have been a difficult one, but Gerrard says nothing could be further from the truth.

“I think it could be with a certain personality, someone with a certain character,” he said. “But before I make those decisions of course I am well aware of the person – i.e. Steven Davis, Gareth McAuley, Jermain Defoe.

“They are top professionals. Better professionals than I was myself. That is involved with the decision before they come in. Can I work with someone who I’ve played against or played with? Or who I’ve been a friend or team-mate with?

“Those decisions I have to process before making the decision, but Jermain was an absolute no-brainier for me.”

A pleasing by-product of Defoe’s arrival at Rangers has been the way he has taken fellow striker Alfredo Morelos under his wing, not only replacing the comfort blanket that Daniel Candeias used to provide for the Colombian, but working on bringing him out of his shell and into the wider group.

“When Daniel Candeias was here, they were really close,” he said. “They spoke [the same] language and I think Daniel was almost a comfort blanket at times for Alfredo. But I think people around the squad got less of Alfredo because of that.

“That’s not a criticism. I think it’s just the way it is. Maybe prior, there were others in that clique who spoke the language. It did seem as if there were sections like that or those were the stories I heard.

“Since Daniel has left, Alfredo has opened up and come out of his shell a little bit more. He’s mixing with the players more, he seems very happy.

“Jermain is definitely someone who has put his arm around him and has helped him. That relationship has blossomed really well and that’s fantastic for us.

“If we can keep those two healthy and in the form they are in then it gives us a much better chance of having a good time together.”