The best player from each country to play England

SomethingElse

Muff_Daddy wrote: »

Sadio Mane surely.

Does Mane come with a personal endorsement from George Weah though?

SM01

Titi Camara - Guinea.

Diawara played with Arsenal i think but not sure he had much of an impact.

Dirty Dingus McGee

JPA wrote: »

Yep. Poor selection from such a footballing nation.

Di Canio, Carbone, Di Matteo. Ravenelli was great but short lived.
A dearth of defenders for a country know for defending.

Thats because all the best Italian players tended not to play in England.

niallo27

pjohnson wrote: »

Papa Boupa Diop the monster.

The wardrobe.

peterswellman

Jayop wrote: »

Jesus man it's supposed to be a bit of craic. Really no need for the aggressive posts. It's about opinions and whether you like it or not my bias is always going to be towards attacking players to the point where I'm picking a bloody Liverpool player ahead of others who would be in the mixer.

Aggressive? Jesus Christ, man up ffs.

You're right it is all about opinions and I'm well within my rights to state I think the opinion is absolute bull.

Jayop

You must be a real fun guy.

JPA

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Thats because all the best Italian players tended not to play in England.

Gee, ya think?

SEPT 23 1989

Rapper and footballer John Barnes Jamaica

peterswellman

Jayop wrote: »

You must be a real fun guy.

Well I'm sure I would be better company than a sensitive Sally like yourself.

Btw, I made a simple statement about Gilberto being the best if you scroll back which plenty of people agree with.

You take issue with my post and then attempted to back it up by some ridiculous reasoning. When I made a counterpoint you burst into tears. Christ above, the Internet these days is full of babies.

Jayop

Ffs

pjohnson

peterswellman wrote: »

Well I'm sure I would be better company than a sensitive Sally like yourself.

Btw, I made a simple statement about Gilberto being the best if you scroll back which plenty of people agree with.

You take issue with my post and then attempted to back it up by some ridiculous reasoning. When I made a counterpoint you burst into tears. Christ above, the Internet these days is full of babies.

I doubt the first sentence.

Wales - John Charles

domrush

N. Ireland - George Best

L'prof

L'prof wrote: »

Zlatan has certainly been the better player and had the better career but his one season at United can't compare with Ljungberg's contribution over 9

Others to consider are Limpar, Larsson & Larsson, Mellberg, Brolin

Dahlin?

He did better than Brolin, who flopped at Leeds, put on a ball of weight.

sonic85

sonic85 wrote: »

South Africa - Quinton Fortune, Shaun Bartley, Benni McCarthy, Lucas Radebe, Aaron Mokoene

Hard to look beyond Radebe. Or Albert Johanneson...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Johanneson

Charlie19

pjohnson wrote: »

Cameroon: Eto'o
Ivory Cost: Drogba
Ghana: Essien
Togo: Adebayor

Tony Yeboah says hello.

He was a bit of a Wally though.

Charlie19

Charlie19 wrote: »

Tony Yeboah says hello.

He was a bit of a Wally though.

You can't leave that poem hanging like that, add in the last 2 lines!

Dick phelan

For Argentina either Aguero or Tevez, Mascharano up there as well.

Alexander Hleb Belarus

Alexis Sanchez Chile

Chris Samba Congo

Antonio Valencia Ecuador

Sami Hypia Finland

Victor Wynama Kenya

Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay

Dwight York Trinidad and Tobago

Dick phelan

Dick phelan wrote: »

For Argentina either Aguero or Tevez, Mascharano up there as well.

Ossie Ardiles? World Cup winner, played for the bones of a decade during which his country fought a war with Britain, cult hero...and that song...

sonic85

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Rapper and footballer John Barnes Jamaica

I know Barnes wins but I have to say I used to really like Ricardo Gardner

citytillidie

Denmark - Jan Molby
Wales - Bale
Argentina - Aguero / Ossie Ardiles
Belgium - Hazard
Bulgaria - Berbatov
Cameroon - Marc-Vivien Foe
Canada - Craig Forrest
Chile - Sanchez
Kenya - Wanyama
Holland - Edgar Davids
Poland - Dudek

sonic85

Honduras - Maynor Figueroa or Wilson Palacios

SM01

citytillidie wrote: »

Holland - Edgar Davids

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Dennis Bergkamp
Dirk Kuyt
Ruud van Nistelrooy
even Robin van Persie

All had better showings.

SM01

SM01 wrote: »

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Dennis Bergkamp
Dirk Kuyt
Ruud van Nistelrooy
even Robin van Persie

All had better showings.

Frans Thijssen, who won a player of the year award.

greendom

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Frans Thijssen, who won a player of the year award.

Arnold Muhren was the better of the 2 Dutch imports to Ipswich, I always thought

Ulysses Gaze

Germany: Bert Trautmann - 508 games for City. And played in England in 1949 so played in an extremely hostile environment.

And Bergkamp is the best foreign player I've seen in the Premier League. A genius who created goals for everyone. And scored as well.

Better than Henry, better than Ronaldo, better than Keane.

Jayop

Anyone not saying Giggs for Wales is allowing their club loyalty cloud their judgment. Ffs Giggs was a phenomenon, won 13 leagues and God knows how many other trophies. 963 appearances, 163 goals. An inspirational player.

Did Bale do a single thing as impressive as Giggs goal against Arsenal in 99?

Crazy stuff.

Ulysses Gaze

Jayop wrote: »

Anyone not saying Giggs for Wales is allowing their club loyalty cloud their judgment. Ffs Giggs was a phenomenon, won 13 leagues and God knows how many other trophies. 963 appearances, 163 goals. An inspirational player.

Did Bale do a single thing as impressive as Giggs goal against Arsenal in 99?

Crazy stuff.

I'd put Ian Rush ahead of Bale anyway. But Giggs is the best Welsh player of the modern era.

Although I'd say John Charles was better than all of them overall as he was a world class striker and a world class defender.

hognef

Rikand wrote: »

Solskjaer might have won the more trophies but Pedersen was the best player

Erik Thorstvedt, Ronny Johnsen?

eagle eye

Cameroon for me is Geremi.

Turkey = Tugay

eagle eye

USA is a tough one, you got Brad Friedel, Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey as front runners.

eagle eye

hognef wrote: »

Erik Thorstvedt, Ronny Johnsen?

Riise might be the one for me there, Haland and Hangeland come to mind too and Iversen for Spurs.

AidoEirE

Hidetoshi Nakata from japan.
Brillantly skilled footballer, heiled as a great over there. Unfortunatly he joined bolton at the time when big sam was in charge and completely played him wrong. Think he fell out of love football after that and retired early.
He's in that old nike ad with the footballers in the cage 3v3. Brilliant ad

Jayop

Jayop wrote: »

Anyone not saying Giggs for Wales is allowing their club loyalty cloud their judgment. Ffs Giggs was a phenomenon, won 13 leagues and God knows how many other trophies. 963 appearances, 163 goals. An inspirational player.

Did Bale do a single thing as impressive as Giggs goal against Arsenal in 99?

Crazy stuff.

John Charles. Often appears in lists of best ever British footballer. Unlike Giggs. Or Bale.

AidoEirE

[Deleted User] wrote: »

John Charles. Often appears in lists of best ever British footballer. Unlike Giggs. Or Bale.

British being the word there. Not sure where you got your list from. Your list is to general as there is at least three countries on that isle.

The lad is welsh, comes from wales. Never played for a club in england. To say british dosen't sit well with most.

Its like Andy Murray is scottish and represents them but because he's unreal at tennis he's british...

AidoEirE

[Deleted User] wrote: »

John Charles. Often appears in lists of best ever British footballer. Unlike Giggs. Or Bale.

John charles played for 16 years...
Giggs played for 24 years..

Esse85

Costa Rica - Paolo Wanchope
Estonia - Mart Poom
Egypt - Mido
Mali - Kanoute
Romania - Dan Petrescu, Adrian Mutu,

Quazzie

AidoEirE wrote: »

The lad is welsh, comes from wales. Never played for a club in england. To say british dosen't sit well with most.

He played for Leeds.

I don't know how anyone can say John Charles was better than Giggs. I can almost guarantee that no one here has seen him play, and those that were anorak enough to watch him only watched one game. Basically what you're saying then is you trust someone else's opinion of Charles over your own opinion of Giggs. Or the more likely scenario, you dislike Giggs so are only two happy to accept someone else's opinion over your own

Dirty Dingus McGee

Quazzie wrote: »

He played for Leeds.

I don't know how anyone can say John Charles was better than Giggs. I can almost guarantee that no one here has seen him play, and those that were anorak enough to watch him only watched one game. Basically what you're saying then is you trust someone else's opinion of Charles over your own opinion of Giggs. Or the more likely scenario, you dislike Giggs so are only two happy to accept someone else's opinion over your own

in 1997 john Charles was voted as Juventus best foreign player of all time.He was also part of a Welsh team who got to the World Cup quarter final and finished 3rd in the ballon d'or voting in 1959.By all accounts he was a truly great player so nothing wrong with putting his name in the conversation.

Brian?

Jayop wrote: »

3 - Ireland

Candidates - Roy Keane, Robbie Keane, Liam Brady, Giles, McGrath, Given, Carey, Houghton, Duff, Whelan, O'Leary

I think that's enough candidates. For me I didn't see enough of a lot of them and can barely remember the 80's so I'm going to go with someone from the latest era although I believe that Brady was said to be the best ever Irish player in England. I'll go with Roy. He was astoundingly good for United and deserves the accolade. That said it's an open one for discussion. Remember though, it's just what they did playing for English clubs.

I was going to say "it's Liam Brady, why is this a debate", but a lot of Liam's golden years were in Italy. Where he was a huge success. I still think it's Liam, but Roy Keane can be argued for.

AidoEirE

AidoEirE wrote: »

British being the word there. Not sure where you got your list from. Your list is to general as there is at least three countries on that isle.

The lad is welsh, comes from wales. Never played for a club in england. To say british dosen't sit well with most.

Its like Andy Murray is scottish and represents them but because he's unreal at tennis he's british...

Um...I know. I said he was British. He was. He was from Wales.

caviardreams

eagle eye wrote: »

USA is a tough one, you got Brad Friedel, Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey as front runners.

That is a tough call as it is hard to compare goalkeepers and strikers.

Dempsey was very good when at Fulham, but Howard & Friedel played for longer.

I would go for Friedel over Howard, but my "attacking player" bias is pushing me towards Dempsey as I think it is harder to make an impression as an outfield player (so takes more ability) than as a keeper, unless the keeper is really world class, or close enough e.g. De Gea, Courtois, Buffon, when they can really make a significant different to a team. Dempsey's goals won a lot of matches for Fulham.

Quazzie

Quazzie wrote: »

He played for Leeds.

I don't know how anyone can say John Charles was better than Giggs. I can almost guarantee that no one here has seen him play, and those that were anorak enough to watch him only watched one game. Basically what you're saying then is you trust someone else's opinion of Charles over your own opinion of Giggs. Or the more likely scenario, you dislike Giggs so are only two happy to accept someone else's opinion over your own

So the list is limited to those we saw play?

I didn't see that in the OP.

Sheesh, suggesting someone considered to be one of the best footballers ever might just also be a candidate for best to play in England seems to have annoyed some. Glad I didn't also mention Ian Rush...

Jayop

[Deleted User] wrote: »

So the list is limited to those we saw play?

I didn't see that in the OP.

Sheesh, suggesting someone considered to be one of the best footballers ever might just also be a candidate for best to play in England seems to have annoyed some. Glad I didn't also mention Ian Rush...

A few John Charles facts while playing for Leeds.

1)his only medal in England was a 2nd division.
2) during his first spell in England when he was good he only played one season in the top flight, which they finished 8th.
3) His best football was in the second division or in Italy.

I'm not sure if you're being awkward for the sake of it as you usually are or if you're trying to be some kind of football hipster, but if that's the record of a man better than Giggs then I give up.

rob316

Uruguay: luis suarez

Quazzie

Deleted User wrote: »

So the list is limited to those we saw play?

I didn't see that in the OP.

Sheesh, suggesting someone considered to be one of the best footballers ever might just also be a candidate for best to play in England seems to have annoyed some. Glad I didn't also mention Ian Rush...

My point is if you've never seen him play how can you possibly categorically declare he is better than Giggs? You can't, because you do, then essentially you are saying you'll accept the judgement of someone else over your own.

If that's the case I'll make sure to dismiss your opinion in future as being someone elses, and therefore not worth reading

eagle eye

Neville Southall deserves to be in the argument for best Welsh player.

pjohnson

Esse85 wrote: »

Costa Rica - Paolo Wanchope
Estonia - Mart Poom
Egypt - Mido
Mali - Kanoute
Romania - Dan Petrescu, Adrian Mutu,

Amr Zaki? He wasnt around as long but Mido made a fair cartoon of himself bumbling around Boro and West Ham.

pjohnson

caviardreams wrote: »

That is a tough call as it is hard to compare goalkeepers and strikers.

Dempsey was very good when at Fulham, but Howard & Friedel played for longer.

I would go for Friedel over Howard, but my "attacking player" bias is pushing me towards Dempsey as I think it is harder to make an impression as an outfield player (so takes more ability) than as a keeper, unless the keeper is really world class, or close enough e.g. De Gea, Courtois, Buffon, when they can really make a significant different to a team. Dempsey's goals won a lot of matches for Fulham.

Carlos Bocanegra was a rock for Fulham

domrush

Jayop wrote: »

Anyone not saying Giggs for Wales is allowing their club loyalty cloud their judgment. Ffs Giggs was a phenomenon, won 13 leagues and God knows how many other trophies. 963 appearances, 163 goals. An inspirational player.

Did Bale do a single thing as impressive as Giggs goal against Arsenal in 99?

Crazy stuff.

I can understand to a degree as peak Bale was a better player than peak Giggs IMO, however when you look at Giggs's career as a whole I think it's one of the most impressive things to be achieved in modern football so Giggs tops Wales list for me as well.