A world class footballer?

[Scott7 6,173]

Beckenbauer. Baresi.

[Rousseau 10,823]

My point was that you defined Bergkamp as world-class for doing things only a forward could do. Clearly, there are world-class defenders too. I think a player must must exceptional in their position. In his position Ozil is world-class.

[Norris Cole 0]

A comparison of Mesut Ozil and Dennis Bergkamp is a little absurd.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

A world clas player could walk into any team on the planet.

 

Ozil is certainly close.

 

 

[Norris Cole 0]

A world clas player could walk into any team on the planet.

 

Ozil is certainly close.

 

That's a criterion I hear a lot. It's not a bad one, but I tend to go with 'Will we be talking about X in 30 years time?'. Which immediately puts Bergkamp and Ozil in somewhat different lights.

[Norris Cole 0]

A world clas player could walk into any team on the planet.

 

Ozil is certainly close.

 

That's a criterion I hear a lot. It's not a bad one, but I tend to go with 'Will we be talking about X in 30 years time?'. Which immediately puts Bergkamp and Ozil in somewhat different lights.

[compo 7,229]

George Best , Jim Baxter , Denis Law , now they were real world class .

[the gunslinger 3,366]

That's a criterion I hear a lot. It's not a bad one, but I tend to go with 'Will we be talking about X in 30 years time?'. Which immediately puts Bergkamp and Ozil in somewhat different lights.

Im not so sure. People rarely talk of berkamp even now.

 

Van basten and henri rather out shone him in his day.

 

Your criteria really will drill it down to a few players.

 

 

 

 

[BrahimHemdani 1]

IMHO we've had four.

 

The incomparable Jim Baxter. (Rated alongside Puskas in this incredible Ballon d'Or list in 1965) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or_1965

 

 

Alexei Mikhailichenko (Oleksiy Oleksandrovych Mykhaylychenko) who was Soviet and Ukranian Footballer of the Year and came 4th in the European Ballon d'Or behind the Dutch trio of Van Basten, Gullit and Rijkard in 1988, albeit 3 years before he came to Ibrox.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or_1988

 

Paul Gascoigne voted 4th in the Ballon d'Or and selected in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team in 1990, admittedly 5 years before he came to Ibrox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or_1990

 

Brian Laudrup four times Danish Player of the Year, who was voted the 5th Best Player in the World in 1992 two seasons before he came to Rangers in 1994. According to Franz Beckenbauer "Brian was the most expensive player in the Bundesliga as Bayern Munich bought him. Was he worth the money? "Absolutely. He deserved his salary. Like his brother, Michael, he was a world class player and he really helped the club while he was here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_FIFA_World_Player_of_the_Year

 

 

Objectively, Laudrup (and perhaps Gascoigne) is probably the only one we can really claim was world class but the other three were certainly European class.

Edited December 30, 2016 by BrahimHemdani

[Norris Cole 0]

If Baxter was on a list with Puskas, that's good enough for me. Baxter was before my time, I never saw him play, but it has always struck me that he was 'world class'.

 

Not all would agree, but for me, Brian Laudrup was world class. And without becoming obsessed with 'criteria', I simply ask myself: did he regularly produce performances Zinedine Zidane would have been satisfied with? I have to say yes.

 

Gascoigne was capable of world class displays, rather than being a world class player per se.

 

Side note 1: Anyone remember the Laudrup video from back in the day? Archie Knox throwing himself about the training ground trying to get the ball off Laudrup before having some sort of breakdown: "You fuckin try then, ah cannae get the fuckin thing aff him!"

 

Side note 2: If I had the option of signing Diego Maradona in his prime, or Zidane in his, I'd pick Zidane. Maradona would not have been the same player in the modern era IMO.

 

Side note 3: I do wonder what the great players of the 90s make of the team/club today. Guys like Amoruso, Mols, Gough etc. are regulars at Ibrox, I just wonder what goes through their heads at times. I mean what did Laudrup make of Sandaza and Kyle?