So VVD is world class but not Sanchez. Sanchez was regarded as one of the best current PL player before his move to United and now suddenly players like VVD, Firmino, Vertonghen, Auba and Salah are better than him.
World class players in the PL
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For me to be world class you have to have won tournaments at world level, or at least got to finals, ideally on a consistent basis. That would be the champion’s league, world cup, euro’s or other confederation tournaments etc. Top level winners = world class imo.
The Premier league has quite a few players who could be world class, but aren’t yet. Salah, VVD, De Gea, Firmino VVD, Hazard, De Bruyne, Sane, Eriksen, Ederson and quite a few more.
Only player I can think of who I would say is world class already and has the medals to prove it:
David Silva – Man City
The Premier league has quite a few players who could be world class, but aren’t yet. Salah, VVD, De Gea, Firmino VVD, Hazard, De Bruyne, Sane, Eriksen, Ederson and quite a few more.
Only player I can think of who I would say is world class already and has the medals to prove it:
David Silva – Man City
Not exactly fair when there's players who play for trash international teams. So Modric was never world class in your books? Giggs? Cantona? Infinite more examples
Arsenal - Nobody
Chelsea - Hazard, Kante
Liverpool - Salah, Firmino borderline
United - De Gea, Sanchez borderline based on his season last year for Arsenal (not this year).. Pogba can be but needs to have a consistent season
City - De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero
Spurs - Kane, Eriksen
Chelsea - Hazard, Kante
Liverpool - Salah, Firmino borderline
United - De Gea, Sanchez borderline based on his season last year for Arsenal (not this year).. Pogba can be but needs to have a consistent season
City - De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero
Spurs - Kane, Eriksen
People saying Hazard and Pogba are not world class are being silly.
In terms of players who get in any team, Salah is quality but wouldn't get in ahead of Messi. Kane also highly debatable. If we're talking a front 3, that would probably be Neymar, Ronaldo and Messi, so no space for either of Salah or Kane. Arguable if you want Salah in for Neymar then shift Messi central and Ronaldo left, or Kane in then ronaldo left and messi right with no Neymar. But Neymar is better then both, just playing in a shit league so his achievements are pointless til he leaves.
World 11 IMO would be:
Neymar Ronaldo Messi
De Bruyne Modric
Kante
Marcelo Ramos Chiellini/Hummels Kimmich
De Gea
De Bruyne Modric
Kante
Marcelo Ramos Chiellini/Hummels Kimmich
De Gea
Pogba has been here for 2 full seasons, he's only shown his best form in spurts while for probably longer he's been underwhelming. That's not world class. That's just potential. Until he shows consistent quality over most of a season, then he can't be called world class.
Hazard this season, not world class. Last season was world class. The season before, not world class, the season before that undoubtedly world class. So it's a weird one, but he's shown it before. Pogba has never shown it consistently over a season.
Arsenal - Ozil
Chelsea - Hazard, Courtois
Liverpool - Salah
Man United - De Gea, Pogba, Sanchez
Man City - Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva
Spurs - Kane
Chelsea - Hazard, Courtois
Liverpool - Salah
Man United - De Gea, Pogba, Sanchez
Man City - Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva
Spurs - Kane
Arsenal : N/a
Chelsea : Hazard, Kante.
City : KDB, Silva, Aguero.
United : DDG, Pogba, Sanchez.
Spurs : Kane, Eriksen.
Liverpool : Salah.
Chelsea : Hazard, Kante.
City : KDB, Silva, Aguero.
United : DDG, Pogba, Sanchez.
Spurs : Kane, Eriksen.
Liverpool : Salah.
Ramos does not get into a world 11. Better defenders than him. Emphasis on "defend".
Consistency tends to be something shown from world class players.
Pogba has still be one of the most productive midfielders in the league this season and you can not ignore what he did before his return to United. And Hazard has been the best player on two title winning sides, is still one of the leaders in chances created and us having one of his better goal scoring seasons.
Ramos is easily the best all around center back in the world. His defensive ability is underrated, and he's a big part of the reason why Real Madrid have won 3 Champions League's in the last 4 years. Also his ability on the ball and in the air in both boxes is something you can't understate. The only question was who was going to be the center back next to him.
Let us not do this here.
Sanchez has not exactly had a world class season. Mainly poor for Arsenal, mainly poor for us.
Arent we having a bit to much United googles on when we say Pogbs?
I mean, a Welt Class player should be able to perform atleast 3 games in a row.
Anyways:
DDG
Aguero
Kane
Salah
KDB
Those guys are solid.
I mean, a Welt Class player should be able to perform atleast 3 games in a row.
Anyways:
DDG
Aguero
Kane
Salah
KDB
Those guys are solid.
He has decent productivity but it's nothing special. And of course I can ignore it. He's been here for a full 2 seasons and hasn't shown it. Him being apparently "better" 3 seasons ago when he played alongside other proper world class midfielders like Vidal and with a solid all round team doesn't influence what he should be seen as today. If he was world class, he wouldn't be subbed off so often in the past 6 months for awful performances, wouldn't get bullied like that Spurs game in January (which was a pretty common occurance for him in big games), and he wouldn't have been dropped for our most important games in the Champions League. He has world class ability and potential, but he hasn't shown he's a world class midfielder, nowhere close to it. And even him at Juventus wasn't a world class midfielder. He was the flair player in a functioning system alongside better midfielders so it allowed him to be inconsistent and get away with it.
It's not underrated. Look at the goals Madrid ships year in year out.
I would say Ronaldo and their midfield are the reason they have 3 CLs. Replace Ramos with Godin or Chiellini or Boateng and they'd do just fine.
de Gea, Pogba (when he wants to be), Silva, de Bruyne, Aguero, Kane, Ozil, Salah, Hazard, Azpi, Eriksen. (Firmino but maybe needs 1 more season/1 big international tournament)
But yeah its quite pointless unless somone defines what 'world class' actually means.
But yeah its quite pointless unless somone defines what 'world class' actually means.
Among City players Walker is too inconsistent to be truly WC while Sterling is close to being it.
Sharpen up his finishing and he's an awesome player.
Sharpen up his finishing and he's an awesome player.
Manchester City: Walker, potentially Mendy, Fernandinho, de Bruyne, Sterling, Sane, Aguero, Jesus, Silva, Toure was world-class.
Manchester United: de Gea, Sanchez, Pogba, Lukaku, potentially Rashford and Martial.
Liverpool: Salah, Firmino, possibly van Dijk.
Arsenal: Aubameyang, Ozil, potentially Bellerin.
Chelsea: Courtois, Hazard, Kante, Azpilicueta, Alonso.
Tottenham: Kane, Aldeirwereld, Vertonghen, Eriksen.
Manchester United: de Gea, Sanchez, Pogba, Lukaku, potentially Rashford and Martial.
Liverpool: Salah, Firmino, possibly van Dijk.
Arsenal: Aubameyang, Ozil, potentially Bellerin.
Chelsea: Courtois, Hazard, Kante, Azpilicueta, Alonso.
Tottenham: Kane, Aldeirwereld, Vertonghen, Eriksen.
Man Utd: DDG, Pogba, Bailly
Man City: De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero
Tottenham: Kane, Toby
Chelsea: Hazard, Kante
Arsenal: Ozil, Aubemayang
Liverpool: Salah, Firmino
Man City: De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero
Tottenham: Kane, Toby
Chelsea: Hazard, Kante
Arsenal: Ozil, Aubemayang
Liverpool: Salah, Firmino
Yeah, fair enough.
In my book it means an imaginary squad of an allWorld selection of 23 players.
It’s hard to judge though isn’t it. I think most people would agree Salah is suddenly world class yet the other 8 years of his career up until 9 months ago have been pretty average.
There wouldn’t be one single person with Salah in their list last summer. The year before Bale looked unstoppable now people wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole.
Modric has won multiple champions leagues, Giggs also has 2. Definitely world class.
Cantona was obviously very influential in the premier league for Utd, didn't do much in Europe or for France though I think. I would say world class ability but never translated it on to world stage properly.
Can a player be world class if they've only performed at the top level in one country, not in Europe or internationally? no for me.
Top level players (forget the world class debate) who would arguably get into any first XI:
Man City: Walker, De Bruyne, Silva, Sane, Aguero, Kompany (fit)
Man Utd: De Gea, Pogba, Matic, Sanchez (if Mou doesn't get the best out of him it doesn't mean he's not top drawer)
Liverpool: Salah, Mane
Spurs: Alderweireld, Erikssen, Kane, Dembele
Chelsea: Courtois, Hazard, Willian, Kante
Bolded are who I would consider 'World Class' (not to open the can of worms)
Man City: Walker, De Bruyne, Silva, Sane, Aguero, Kompany (fit)
Man Utd: De Gea, Pogba, Matic, Sanchez (if Mou doesn't get the best out of him it doesn't mean he's not top drawer)
Liverpool: Salah, Mane
Spurs: Alderweireld, Erikssen, Kane, Dembele
Chelsea: Courtois, Hazard, Willian, Kante
Bolded are who I would consider 'World Class' (not to open the can of worms)
The amount of goals he scored this season is the only reason you can even consider him World class.
I agree, but they have to have that season before they can be on these lists. Pogba has the ability, it's why we paid what we did for him. But hes never put in a consistent, world class season. Like the one de bruyne has this season, salah has this season, kanye and hazard have in the past... even Eriksen and coutinho are much closer to it based on overall performances over the last 2 years.
If we look at just midfielders and their performances over the last 2 seasons: Kroos, modric, isco, de bruyne, Silva, kante, eriksen, coutinho, Vidal, thiago, pjanic and probably some others who are arguable such as Verratti, Busquets, or Matic this season or Herrera last season who both outperformed him at United alone... not all of those are world class. But most if not all have shown a higher performance level on average over the last 2 years.
Of those I'd only say Kroos, modric, de bruyne, David Silva, and Kante (as a dm) are the only world class midfielders. Because they have the talent and have shown it consistently and achieved great success with it. Pogba has talent, hasnt achieved consistency or success with it. Others have consistency but not quite ability.
De Gea, De Bruyne, Salah, Aguero, Kante, Kane, Pogba (under a different manager)
Van Dijk 
Are you sure? Pogba was definitely world class in 2014/15 and 2015/16 and was voted into the FIFA World XI alongside Modric and Iniesta something which the likes of KDB, Silva and the others have never achieved. He has definitely shown consistency just not in the PL so far. The last two years overall he hasn't shown the consistency but we already know he has World Class ability otherwise we would never have broken the transfer record to resign him.
He has world class ability yes but its showing that ability on a consistent basis and achieving something with it that needs to happen imo. Already said though that for Juventus I think he was overrated. More just similar to how he is now but since he was a younger player then it got all the plaudits. Pretty sure he got the best youngster award at the world cup in 2014, and had a good tournament while occasionally scoring screamers for Juve. Dont think hes really progressed or changed much since then in his overall performances, but difference is he doesnt have the same top midfielders around him to dominate and hes playing against better opposition more often so hes found it more difficult, and now that he isnt a young player anymore, its expected that he finds that consistency that people ignore for young players.
Also not saying he cant become it. Maybe with a different manager hed show his class consistently. Maybe itll happen next season. Who knows. I just cant personally call him world class on the basis of his talent that he hasnt shown more often than he has during his time here. Especially with how his 2018 overall has been.
Best I can do is:
Arsenal: None
Chelsea: Hazard, Kante (just)
City: KDB, Silva, Aguero
United: DDG (needs addressing that there’s only one)
Spurs: Kane
Liverpool: Salah, Firmino
Arsenal: None
Chelsea: Hazard, Kante (just)
City: KDB, Silva, Aguero
United: DDG (needs addressing that there’s only one
)Spurs: Kane
Liverpool: Salah, Firmino
I'm gonna be harsh but fair. World class should be top 3 in their respective positions. Top 4 or even 5 with exceptions of sheer volume of brilliant players in that position (i.e strikers).
De Gea, Aguero, Silva, KDB, Kane and that's it.
Salah hasn't even done it for an entire season yet. There is no evidence he can recapture the figures.
Hazard is too inconsistent.
Kante is not world class regardless of how much the media like him.
Ozil goes missing in big games.
Pogba is hit and miss.
Eriksen is a level below.
Sanchez is a shell of his former self so far.
GK - There are not other world class goalies in the PL. Only Neuer and Buffon are world class.
CB - There are no world class CB's in the league.
There are some very good players in the league but not that many world class players.
De Gea, Aguero, Silva, KDB, Kane and that's it.
Salah hasn't even done it for an entire season yet. There is no evidence he can recapture the figures.
Hazard is too inconsistent.
Kante is not world class regardless of how much the media like him.
Ozil goes missing in big games.
Pogba is hit and miss.
Eriksen is a level below.
Sanchez is a shell of his former self so far.
GK - There are not other world class goalies in the PL. Only Neuer and Buffon are world class.
CB - There are no world class CB's in the league.
There are some very good players in the league but not that many world class players.
How has Salah not done it for an entire season when he has done it for this entire season
What does he need to play out the remaining 3 games and then it's okay? Hazard was world class last season and in 14/15, but not this season and in 15/16. Fair enough but he has had world class seasons.Buffon isn't world class at all. In his prime, but not now. Oblak is arguably up there with Neuer and De Gea.
Kante for his impact I would say is world class. He's a defensive midfielder, and at that he is the best player in the world. He went to Leicester City and they won the fecking premier league, and then he moved to Chelsea and they won the premier league with him the POTY (like he should've been the year before for Leicester). He's a brilliant player and definitely world class when it comes to defensive midfielders.
Fair enough with your definition though. I agree exceptions are made, to the top 3 rule, can't call someone world class if there's a dearth of WC players in that position just to get a top 3, but also you can expand a bit.
My opinion around the world for the last 2 seasons:
Goalkeepers: De Gea, Neuer (last season), Oblak
Right backs: Kimmich the closest to it(this season)
Center backs: Sergio Ramos, Hummels, Chiellini
Left backs: Marcelo, Jordi Alba, Alaba (when he was at his best, not really sure this season)
Defensive mids: Kante, Busquets
Center mids/creative mids: Modric, Kroos, De Bruyne, David Silva
Wingers/wide forwards: Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Salah, Hazard (16/17 form), Sanchez (16/17 form)
Forwards: Kane, Lewandowski (not his showing vs Madrid of course), Suarez, Aguero
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Really?
He's missed a boatload of chances this season including some in big games.
He's not all about goals, though. He drags defenders out of position making space for colleagues and is a consistent winner of dangerous free kicks and pens.
He's got plenty of improvement in him so as I said he is not far away from being WC for me.
Everyone bangs on about salah but he ain't world class!
World class to me is someone who has done it at the top level for a number of years, not just a golden season.
If I'm not mistaken then the previous 2 years he averaged mid teens for his goal tally in what some might consider the 3rd or 4th best league in europe.
That's not world class
The term world class is banded about today if a player has a good game, perhaps certain players fit into a bracket of having a world class season but that does not make them world class.
World class to me is someone who has done it at the top level for a number of years, not just a golden season.
If I'm not mistaken then the previous 2 years he averaged mid teens for his goal tally in what some might consider the 3rd or 4th best league in europe.
That's not world class
The term world class is banded about today if a player has a good game, perhaps certain players fit into a bracket of having a world class season but that does not make them world class.
Can't understand those who are leaving Özil out.
He's still a very important player for his country. He waltzes into the German team who are best footballing nation on the planet. Therefore - world class!
He's still a very important player for his country. He waltzes into the German team who are best footballing nation on the planet. Therefore - world class!
Boateng is better than Hummels.
Apart from the weak argument - I'm not sure about the waltzing in part. Wouldn't be surprised if he didn't start many games at the WC.