Eriksen and Kane will be added to this list when they retire 
.
Could make the same argument for Pogba and De Gea, though.
.Could make the same argument for Pogba and De Gea, though.
Former players who deserved a shot at a higher level
- Thread starter Nico87
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I completely agree about Zaha. I liked the signing when it happened and never understood why we sold him without really giving him a proper chance...
Has anybody said Shearer??? Morton Gamst Pedersen was good too
Gary Breen. You just have to make sure the kit he wears is green.
Lisandro Lopez and Lucho Gonzalez always looked quite good whenever I watched them in Portugal/France and thought it was a matter of time before a bigger continental team snapped them up although to be fair they were at the bigger clubs in France and Portugal throughout their career
De Gea
Salah so far tbf although the pond's getting bigger it seems.
Fabrizio Ravanelli?
Yes, he played for Juve, but no big EPL club...
Yes, he played for Juve, but no big EPL club...
Shots fired!
Serie A was the best league in the world for almost 15-20 years. They paid the highest transfers and the biggest wages. Why would Ravanelli at his prime play at England? That's why he only got to EPL late in his career.
Had to agree about Tugay and Mellberg. Tugay passing was really a joy and Mellberg leadrship would be pretty useful for top clubs.
Disagree about Philips though. He was a bit two-dimensional.
I'm gonna add a few players outside England :P
Rashid Yekini:
One of the best strikers to play in portuguese league. Got transfered to Olympiakos where he got a severe injury that he never totally recovered from and was never the same after that.
Rashid Yekini:
One of the best strikers to play in portuguese league. Got transfered to Olympiakos where he got a severe injury that he never totally recovered from and was never the same after that.
Didn't know that. Fair play.
Not a problem, mate. Serie A was what EPL is now, in retrospective. Even relegation battlers had world class players. You were probably young at the time to realise that.
The problem of Serie A was the Bosman rule. Before the Bosman rule the starting eleven of a club in UEFA national competitions could only have a maximum of 3 non-national players (8 italians + 3 foreign players). Suddenly, instead of having 6 or 7 players with skyrocket wages, with the Bosman rule serie A clubs tried to hire as much foreign talent as they could, since they had a lot of money to spend when compared to any other league, and that was the first blow to italian clubs. Suddenly clubs started to have dozens of skyrocket paid players, and that was not sustainable at long term.
Their funding was extremely dependent on sporsorships, and suddenly companies started to reduce the investment in that market, leaving clubs like Fiorentina and Parma in a dead end.
Sorry about the off-topic...
William Regal, Rob Van Dam, Tim Cahill and Mark Viduka
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Yes, definitely, Ayala was shouted too but most of that Valencia team deserve a mention - Baraja, Albelda, Cañizares, Vicente and the little magician Pablo Aimar.
For this thread - my first thought was actually Bernd Schneider of Bayer Leverkusen.
Big mentions to Marcos Senna and Riquelme of Villarreal.
Weren't Man. United in for Senna one summer as a replacement for Roy Keane?
Riquelme played for Barca. Not many bigger clubs than that!
That was the rumor.
Joaquin is still bossing it for Betis at age 37. It's crazy he was retired from the national team in 2007. He criticized the team that went on to win well, everthing.
Juan Carlos Valeron
Chilavert
Martin Palermo
Gary Speed
Chilavert
Martin Palermo
Gary Speed
Oscar Cardozo?
Surprised he didn't to another top European club whilst at Benfica.
Was watching some obscure footy game on betfair and saw him playing for Libertad in Peru! Dang. Time flies.
Surprised he didn't to another top European club whilst at Benfica.
Was watching some obscure footy game on betfair and saw him playing for Libertad in Peru! Dang. Time flies.
Batistuta? Fiorentina was good to mediocre, but not really a top club
Gylfi Sigurdsson
That was the summer SAF began his lovefest for Hargreaves and supposedly United wouldn't pony up a couple extra million quid to sign Senna before the deadline while SAF kept going for Hargreaves. Got neither player in the end, although Hargreaves did sign on the following the summer.
Imagine a 4-3-3 circa 06-07 with Senna-Carrick-Scholes trio in midfield.
He was nothing special at Spurs and a disappointment at Everton, there’s nothing to suggest he’d ever done better at a bigger club.
He could only cut it at Swansea by the looks of it.
Believe SAF mentioned this when the guy was around 35/36.
Henrik Larsson won the Champions League with Barcelona
Won Serie A with AS Roma
Shearer i know he won it with Blackburn but would have loved to see him play in the champions league for a top side
Juninho Paulista. He was one of my favourite players and I think he had the sort of skill set and personality that would work almost anywhere. Played 49 games for Brazil as well.
Kevin Phillips and Jamie Vardy both qualify as well IMO. Then there are the more obvious ones like Le Tiss, Shearer, and Zola.
Kevin Phillips and Jamie Vardy both qualify as well IMO. Then there are the more obvious ones like Le Tiss, Shearer, and Zola.
Trevor and Gerry Francis
I know, he also won everything in Scotland, but I think the 7 years at Celtic were too long. He'd have been just as good anywhere.
Trevor was brilliant but never quite seemed to have the mentality of a Top Player. I think the constant injuries he suffered in his formative years didn’t help.
There was talk of Sexton signing Gerry before he eventually went for Wilkins. That 75-76 QPR team was bloody good.
He was always played out of position at Spurs and Everton last season often aswell. This season he has played in his best position and has been good.
Droolworthy! Starting over Butt was among the handful of fantasy roles I had in mind for Mauro...Imagine having him sitting next to a box-to-box Keano?
Brian clough.. Had an outrageous scoring record. Perhaps if that injury didn't feck him he could have made it with one of the big boys
Edmundo... he did good at fiorentina but wanted to be in Brazil, where he spent his prime.
Also played for Milan and it didn't work out.
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Pre-2000 the game was different and the top clubs in countries like Turkey, Scotland or Romania would often have a star or more in their midst who would comfortably get into just about any club side in the world. And even the second-tier clubs in the big leagues had that sort of quality and competed for titles which meant there was little reason for Mauro Silva or Ruben Baraja to move anywhere. The game wasn't stratified as it is now and moving to a superclub wasn't necessarily a 'higher level'.
Like the Tugay shout - could have cruised into most midfields around in his best years. Struggled to get into the Rangers team midfield mind, but we had a hotbed of quality in the centre at that time - some of whom went on to better things (Van Bronckhorst, Gattuso).
Di Natale is a good one @Invictus. Clear example of how the game has stratified and how he was on the wrong side of it. For instance, scored 28 in 36 in 2010/11 to push Udinese into the last CL spot, then plays out of his skin in the play-off for the CL against Arsenal, losing out despite being the best player on the park.
Like the Tugay shout - could have cruised into most midfields around in his best years. Struggled to get into the Rangers team midfield mind
, but we had a hotbed of quality in the centre at that time - some of whom went on to better things (Van Bronckhorst, Gattuso). Di Natale is a good one @Invictus. Clear example of how the game has stratified and how he was on the wrong side of it. For instance, scored 28 in 36 in 2010/11 to push Udinese into the last CL spot, then plays out of his skin in the play-off for the CL against Arsenal, losing out despite being the best player on the park.