I saw 2 previous shouts for R9, i'll also add to that. Played for Madrid, Barcelona, AC and Inter Milan. Great player, but I don't think he would be a club legend at any of those clubs.
Great players that are not Legends at any club
- Thread starter Nico87
- Start date
Van Der Sar definitely an Ajax legend. Best keeper they ever had and won pretty much every club trophy there is with them.
He came at a time of crisis, with Inter having just won the treble, and promptly lead them to their first league title since 2004(that's 7 years), turning a fading club back into a force in Italy and respectable in CL as well. Left because he was forced out - and never made any mystery that Milan was the club he's liked most and identofied with the most, even while at PSG. Then came back at another time of crisis and turned the entire club around, leading to their first league title in 11 years. Now he's part of their front office - indeed, the ownership is basically using him as a lightning rod, since he can do no wrong in the eyes of milan fansNow that does surprise me! I wonder why? He only has 125 appearances for the club and more than half of them came after he turned 39 (!).
Has he been trash-talking Inter and Juventus or something like that?
Definitely a united legend as well. Best or second best keeper we've ever had.
He's a Madrid legend for sure, and I think Inter still claim him as well these days. At least the fans old enough to have seen him before the injuries. Though his case is more of a he was such a legend of the game that any club he played for wants to claim him
I didn't regard him as a legend before his second spell. Some of us hold that viewpoint too.
Wanting to leave, giving his best years and peak performances to another club and not actually being here that long once he was established as a top player (3 seasons, the 3rd reluctantly) is enough to say he wasn't for me. Coming back could actually have changed that if he'd have somehow led us to winning the league or similar. A glorious return like that would have been an amazing story.
If United were a less successful club than we are without as much storied history then he still could have been following the exact same kind of career path that he did, but we have so many other legends at United that I just can't fit him in. We're not a Bournemouth or Brighton.
Edit: Got to be a Madrid legend though on paper, although I don't 100% know what Real fans think of him.
Last edited:
Could say the same about the vast majority of Leeds players, Kewell/Viduka/Smith/Woodgate/Bowyer etc, I doubt Leeds fans would even consider them legends alongside Don Revie and the like.
James Rodriguez?
Genuinely how old are you? Van der sar is most definitely a united legend.
PSV legend
The Phenomenon
Yes. Clear legend of both teams.
I don't think it's such a bad shout to question it. I'm 45 if my age is important. He's borderline for me on the basis that I think you can only have so many legends.
There's 3 goalkeepers I'd possibly put ahead of him. Schmeichel I thought was better, was here longer and helped us to win slightly more. Gregg, in part for being an amazing human being during the Muinch air disaster and trying to save the lives of his teammates by pulling them from the wreckage. Stepney can't be considered better than Van der sar, but perhaps more legendary for being part of our 1st European Cup triumph as the first to do something is always a little bit more special, plus he played quite a lot more games for us than Edwin did too.
I don't want to put strict quotas on things and say you can only have a particular number of legends, or so many in each position but there'd come a point where the meaning of the word can get watered down if there's too many.
I definitely wouldn't say someone was wrong to consider Van der sar a legend, not least for the fact that it's personal opinion. Beyond that though, he's got to be close even on my list.
Last edited:
I liked Ballack but he's probably borderline a Chelsea legend.
For me, theres a few things a player can do to get that status:
1, play a shit load of games.
2, be incredibly good for the club.
3, Be a part of some amazing or iconic moments /games.
4, Clearly give a shit about the club.
Players don't need to do all these things of course.
Last edited:
Old enough to have watched the rest of those players I mentioned play.
It was just a question, is he a Utd legend? For me he is, but when you see people say Beckham isn't or Ronaldo isn't a Utd legend. Then it's clear different people have different opinions and different criteria. Would be interested to know how he's viewed by Ajax fans.
Is Bale considered a legend at RM? Surely not
I'd definitely call VDS a United legend. H
Unless you're old enough to have seen Sir Bobby play he's the best player any of us have ever seen play for United. And we have three more league titles and a CL because of him that we would not have had without him. I'm sure you could find people who'd tell you that alone doesn't make him a legend but I find that ridiculous.
I don't think it's unreasonable to say he's not a bonafide United legend. There was 100% an element of the fanbase who never warmed to him completely, I found him very unlikable, regardless of his talent (the huge majority of which we didn't see until he went to Madrid).
Most talented player we have had? Maybe. Best player United have had playing for them? Not a chance.
Surely would be.
His 07/08 season was definitely the best season I've ever seen a United player have individually. I thought he was more entertaining to watch in 06/07 which was up there too. 08/09 saw a bit of a decline while still being very good.
I don't think best = legendary when it comes down to it. There's plenty of other factors, but that's just for me personally, longevity as a top performer and love for the club being two of them.
I'm not going to say anyone is wrong for thinking Ronaldo is one because it's a consensus thing when it comes down to it. Individuals class someone as legendary or not, group opinion then says whether they are or not. It starts at the individual though and people are going to have disagreements.
Where I ill say you're wrong is to reduce 3 league titles and CL purely down to him. Football is a team game, we wouldn't have played with 10 men without him and you have no idea what would have happened without him. Is there a good chance we'd have won less without him? Absolutely, but to state categorically we'd have nothing those seasons is just daft. To say so is to act as though we didn't have a squad full of amazing players and wouldn't have signed someone else.
Edit: That's not even mentioning we had Sir Alex as our manager.
Last edited:
Ronaldo is an Inter legend after signing for a world record fee, taking the piss out of Serie A every week, and winning them the UEFA cup in the days it was still a huge tournament.
He was inducted into their haul of fame and applauded when playing against them for Milan.
He’s a legend there alright. Even though he was only there a very short time. They got the best version of Ronaldo too. Most highlights focus on Barca but he was unplayable in Italy, in a period that defences were the hardest that football has probably ever seen, and Serie A being the best league.
Good point.
I'm sorry but that's a ridiculous claim. Were we going to play with 10 men if he wasn't playing?
Yes he was incredibly talented but the rest of that team were no slouches, and we would probably have picked up someone else of a high level to play if we hadn't had him.
I don't understand how he wouldn't be? Especially with how broad the word 'legend' is being used.
We absolutely love him though
For what seemed like half the time he was there, Real Madrid fans were complaining about him draining their wage bill with his €400k a week salary or whatever it was, he also pissed them off with that 'Golf, Wales' thing. He only played 176 La Liga games in 8 seasons - average of 22 per season.
If you look at his individual honours on Wiki, he never made any teams of the year/players of the year - European, World, Spanish etc, the whole time he was at Real Madrid, his only one was best player at the 2018 Club World Cup. Considering he cost the clubs hundreds of millions in wages and a world record fee arriving.
By comparison, they have so many other great players, so I understand if he wasn't considered a legend. But two moments alone might get him over the line - Copa Del Rey speed burst goal and the Champions League final overhead kick, which is one of the greatest goals ever scored.
Anyway, Bale would be a Spurs legend, that's less in doubt.
Yes, but what a season it was!
Pedro Pauleta seems to fit this thread.
Psg legend for sure.
I'm sure I once read he was voted as PSG's all-time greatest player at some point by their fans, although I think it's fair to say he's been eclipsed by a few by now, and the club hasn't really been around that long compared to most. Still probably up there near the top though!
People seem to forget his early career there because of the whole Golf, Wales thing. He was superb for 4 seasons in a row (unless you compare him to Ronnie), then had a good without being great period with some highs, lows but always scoring and his output remained very good. Only from 19/20 onwards I think he really got sidelined. 3 goals in CL finals + got the assist for Ramos in the 1-1 with Atletico. The thing he did not have was the club/fan connection which is important but ultimately the least important thing.
Michael Owen although I do get the predicament he felt he was in when he left Newcastle - join Stoke and hope to stay up and nothing else, join Everton and get dogs abuse from Liverpool fans or join Manchester United and stand a very good chance of winning the Premier League while also getting dogs abuse from Liverpool fans.
Fair points. I know he was the first player to break Rocheteau record, so probably that might be enough for him to be part of their found memories at least during a couple of generations more.
Would Bayern fans consider Thiago Alcantara a legend of their club?
Ronaldo is absolutely a legend at Real Madrid, he's considered the 2nd best player in the club's history.
The only real negative against him is his departure, but Alfredo DiStefano, the best player in the club's history, had an even more acrimonious departure. That kind of stuff gets forgotten over time.
Bale will be considered a legend once more time passes. Anyone who was in the Real Madrid teams that won 4 CLs will be a legend for the club in time, really.
Not at all what I said.
All I've been arguing is that your ask of leaving emotion out of the judgement cannot be done, because emotion is an integral part of it. At no point did I claim that football is nothing but statistics and emotion, and I am honestly baffled how you even came to that conclusion. Take a step back, have a tea, maybe a snickers if the advertisements are to be believed.
I'm not even going to argue about whether or not Ronaldo is a legend or not, because the entire thing is a) entirely subjective according to one's personal perception and values and what they think defines legendary status and b) I quite frankly don't give a crap about it if someone is given some nebulous label of "legend" or not by random people on the internet, whether that's Ronaldo or anyone else.
As far as I am concerned, I quite honestly don't even care if someone is a legend or "just" a player who played very well for a club. The entire border is way too fluid in the first place and depending on how an individual weighs certain things a person can fall quite far on one or the other side of it. Thinking that much about how great somebody is or isn't and fangirling out over some celebrities is always drifting way too far into some demented cult of personality for my taste in the first place. Not gonna worked up over nonsense like that.
Last edited:
Pauleta is an absolute fan favorite. He isn't their best player ever but I don't think that there is anyone clearly above him from a sentimental standpoint.
He was also better than people give him credit IMHO. Those out of the box first touch passes were a treat. Was a very vertical player, though.
For someone who had little to no decent grassroot years and had to go through the rankings of playing in small clubs during a lot of years shows how determined he was.