Players considered World Class who you don't think are World Class

Type of players that come to mind are luxury inconsistent players like Ginola. But don’t know if he was ever called world class

I think there are more players who continued to be called world class despite no longer being world class.

One example is Rooney, an amazing world class player during his best years. But then lived off of that for way too long and it cost both United and England.

The reason I highlighted Rooney is because it wasn’t an age thing and his decline started much earlier than before he became noticeably poor and fans started calling for him to be dropped. In a way he’s like a stereotypical Brazilian forward world class from very young to about 26.
 
"Gulp" unpopular opinion coming.

Cantona. Yes, brilliant for United in the Premier League, and one of the all time greats. But to be "World Class" you need to have starred in the Champions League and/or at International level, both preferably but at least one. Hence "world".

He was never all that in Europe (and I know Fergie did him no favours sometimes playing him as a 9) and did little for France (maybe would have been different if picked for Euro '96 when he was probably at his absolute peak after an outstanding season, but we'll never know). He only played one tournament (Euro '92) failed to score in any games and France went out in the group stages.

Premier League great? One of the greatest. But on the world stage? Sorry, but he didn't do it enough.
 
Rashford (if anyone is saying it)
Fernandes (ditto)
Pogba
 
Redplane said:
Roberto Carlos.

Famous for his FKs but other than that I never considered him worthy of the plaudits he seemed to receive at the time. Certainly not compared to many of his contemporaries. One of those players who probably benefited from many games not being easily accessible live at the time and so often all we saw was the highlights. The mystique surpassed the reality.
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Some absolutely crazy shouts in here wow :lol:
 
Oranges038 said:
Virgil Van Dijk.

I think he just stands out in a time when there are very few really good defenders out there. It was almost like he invented defending the way pundits were going on about him a few years ago.
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The first name that I thought of when I saw the title. He had a phenomenal couple of seasons (Martinez had one last year), but he was by no means world class or anywhere as good as the media made him out to be.
 
Rossa said:
Pogba being another case. At Juventus he was labelled world class. Watching him in the CL against the best teams, I just didn’t see it.
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Like many, I thought Pogba was at the cusp of greatness during the Ibra years, but his career fell off a cliff afterwards. Injuries, poor attitude, the whole modern United malaise. I had such high hopes, and would genuinely look forward to seeing him play. Never been so wrong with a player before.

Looking back, don't think anyone considers Pogba world class at any point in his career.
 
Malkovich said:
Harry Kane. Too slow, team has to be built around him.
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Agreed. He's the ultimate flat-track bully. Will dominate against the poor teams but never hit Sergio Aguero heights against the big teams in league on a regular basis.
 
Rojofiam said:
Also, how is no one arguing OP saying Neymar?
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Probably because he is a desperately unlikale public persona. I never once ever thought “I’d like him in my team”.

I never really saw him in big games and thought “now that guy is class”. Get the feel of Pogba baggage off him and the PlayStation/twitter pogha image where his over inflated fifa stats never really matched his ability.
 
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Gehrman said:
Unpopular opinion but i think Carrick is somewhat overrated by the fans. Im sure some would call him world class and he had 1 season where he was the best midfielder in league but he had too many games where he was invisible in the bad way or outright stinkers.
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I 100% agree just so slow on the ball and couldn’t cope with high tempo games.

but your not allowed to say these things people get very angry
 
Gehrman said:
Unpopular opinion but i think Carrick is somewhat overrated by the fans. Im sure some would call him world class and he had 1 season where he was the best midfielder in league but he had too many games where he was invisible in the bad way or outright stinkers.
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World class. No doubt about that.
 
Feck me...Cantona, Davids, Hazard and Muller..and Kane. Not world class. Some of you need serious head wobbling.
 
Terrible shouts left right and centre in this thread, to be expected.
 
foolsgold said:
Agreed. He's the ultimate flat-track bully. Will dominate against the poor teams but never hit Sergio Aguero heights against the big teams in league on a regular basis.
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He said Kane not lukaku. Kane regularly scores against top sides, he can't be considered a flat-track bully.
 
To me, a world class player is a player that enters a world xi selection on a given year. So even if an inconsistent player has one amazing season (eg Hazard) which makes him worthy of a world XI call out then he should be called world class.

Beckham was a great player but debatable if he can be considered WC because i think he wasn't the best RM in the world at any given point of his career, so to me he was not world class

I suggest we all use my definition so we can take a bit of subjectivity off this thread :D
 
I have always said it and people in Argentina take it as a sacrilege. It’s like you can’t say it. But I’m convinced someday the truth will come to light.

Julian Alvarez is the most overrated player in Argentinas history. He’s the Mr Satan of football. Won everything, but in most of those trophies he’s never been a key player. At the WC he scored 4: first one after the Australian keeper makes a mistake and loses the ball so he just taps it in. Croatia the first one is a terrible double mistake from the defenders, the second one just has to tap it in aswell after Messi does his play. The one good goal was against Poland.

He can run and press which is good for the modern game. Can shoot with both legs, and that’s it. He’s not a world class player, not even a city player, he’s a mid table team level.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
He said Kane not lukaku. Kane regularly scores against top sides, he can't be considered a flat-track bully.
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I know what he said, and my opinion stands. His top 6 scoring record is padded out by a lot of goals versus what was then a poor Arsenal. Only 5 goals against Manchester United in 19 games. He's a very good player and a very consistent one, but he's never been world class for me.
 
Grealish. He's very good but he's also fortunate that Pep brought him into a team that lets him shine more than he ever would if he was a teams best player. (and yes I saw him at Villa)
 
Gandalf Greyhame said:
Like many, I thought Pogba was at the cusp of greatness during the Ibra years, but his career fell off a cliff afterwards. Injuries, poor attitude, the whole modern United malaise. I had such high hopes, and would genuinely look forward to seeing him play. Never been so wrong with a player before.

Looking back, don't think anyone considers Pogba world class at any point in his career.
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I don't think looking back anyone consider him world class, but there were quite a few who argued at the time that he was world class. It was only United that didn't get the best out of him, playing him out of position etc etc.
 
I'm going to be found hiding under a rock, beaten to a pulp and tossed into freezing water for this, but to me Rooney wasn't world class. He should have been, but imho he never quite reached that height.

He had all the tools in his early years to be world class, but in his teens he was hot tempered and a little inconsistent, and unfortunately his inconsistencies carried on. Even in his best seasons he was always a little patchy, and when he was about to hit his prime, his body started to let him down a little. More accurately, he started to let his body down.

In RvP's last season at Arsenal and first season at United, he was the better player of him and Rooney. After that, Suarez (pains me to say it), Aguero were better than Rooney. Before that, you had Drogba, Henry etc who were better. He was never the best striker in the PL, although he was considered one of the best players for several seasons, rightly so. One of the best does not guarantee you world class recognition though. For me, he just isn't quite there.
 
Nicoteiro said:
I have always said it and people in Argentina take it as a sacrilege. It’s like you can’t say it. But I’m convinced someday the truth will come to light.

Julian Alvarez is the most overrated player in Argentinas history. He’s the Mr Satan of football. Won everything, but in most of those trophies he’s never been a key player. At the WC he scored 4: first one after the Australian keeper makes a mistake and loses the ball so he just taps it in. Croatia the first one is a terrible double mistake from the defenders, the second one just has to tap it in aswell after Messi does his play. The one good goal was against Poland.

He can run and press which is good for the modern game. Can shoot with both legs, and that’s it. He’s not a world class player, not even a city player, he’s a mid table team level.
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:lol: today in 'references i did not expect in a football player thread'
 
I know it’s all about opinions and at times you have to take a deep breath and accept people have a different view :wenger: but

Not a single player in the 99 team was world class? Irwin, Schmeichel, Stam, Becks, Scholes, Keane, Giggs were all world class players.

Rooney, not world class? I agree that when people start saying he was only behind Ronaldo and Messi, that is way overrating him…Xavi, Iniesta we’re far better, Scholes was better…but he was easily world class.

Carrick and world class don’t belong in the same sentence. I don’t think it’s ever been a mainstream opinion that Pogba was world class? Don’t know why he’s in the conversation. He’d have games where he was, he was capable in terms of talent but he never got close to it in terms of overall performance over a season or more. Still a good player though.
 
Remember the geese said:
Henry yes, but fecking Drogba? Better than Rooney? Not a hope in hell.
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As a striker? Drogba was utter class as a striker for a few seasons - one could, probably rightfully so, make an argument that Rooney was the better player, but not sure he was a better striker. Another argument, of course, is that Rooney was to an extent sacrified for the better of the team, but then again, Ronaldo wasn't.
 
Rossa said:
As a striker? Drogba was utter class as a striker for a few seasons - one could, probably rightfully so, make an argument that Rooney was the better player, but not sure he was a better striker. Another argument, of course, is that Rooney was to an extent sacrified for the better of the team, but then again, Ronaldo wasn't.
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Drogba was class for exactly 1 season, the season before that he scored 14 goals in all competitions, the season after he scored 13 in all competitions.

Edit: my opinion is Hazard, glad to see it repeated a few times in this thread already.
 
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