Most people are trying to claim exactly this aren't they.Prompted by Vergil van Dijk and Sadio Mane, first and foremost. I'd like written evidence of anyone who looked at these guys at Southampton and said: "that van Dijk will be the world's best centre back in a couple of years!"
When did this happen?Kane is the best example of this. Was a running joke how shite he was for a while then suddenly became the best striker in Europe.
This seems like a joke but I think it's probably trueRobertson
Van Dyke
Matip
TAA
Henderson
Wynaldam
Ox
Salah
Frimino
Mane
Scored 5 with him on Fifa the other day and made someone quit.Serge Gnabry. Couldn’t get game time under Pulis now look at him.
Think I missed out “one of” though for a period I’d argue he was.When did this happen?
Maybe it's the Red Bull & vodka that gives him wings.Vardy, obviously. I still don’t get how a guy who regularly drinks Red Bull and vodka keeps that insane level of intensity on the pitch — and then combine it with Van Nistelrooy’s ruthlessness and an odd van Persie-esque volley.
haha I hear you on DDG. There was even an article of him caught shoplifting in a convenience store and I truly thought SAF would can him. That was the year he shared goalkeeping duties as wellDavid De Gea, those first couple of seasons are now long forgotten but some of the mistakes he made were farcical.
True, I think he gave up running circa 2013?He can probably still walk into the team now. Amazing
If you mean when he first broke into the Spurs team then I thought he was brilliant right from the start. If you're talking when he was out on loans before that then can't answer I as didn't see him play.De Bruyne is one for me. He was good at loans from Chelsea, but to say he would reach the level he is at now....
I would also like to see what people thought of Harry Kane in the beginning. Even after his first great season people would write him of as a one season wonder.
When Kane is on top form - he's defo in the conversation as the best CF in the World, no doubt about that.When did this happen?
Might not have said the worlds best centre back but I knew Van Dijk was going to be an amazing signing. I wrote this back in 2017 when it was rumoured Chelsea were looking at him:Prompted by Vergil van Dijk and Sadio Mane, first and foremost. I'd like written evidence of anyone who looked at these guys at Southampton and said: "that van Dijk will be the world's best centre back in a couple of years!"
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/tra...-english-translation-too.424394/post-20658932Van Dijk is going to be one of those signings like Alderweireld and Kante who everybody knows you should go for, everyone knows is going to be great at a big club. But for some reason you don't go for him and then he goes somewhere else and is unsurprisingly great.
Yep. The fact that he's a PL footballer, playing for England surprised me. Like I said, I thought Thorpe was better and he's now playing in India. The topic isn't about which had a surprising jump to reach world class or something like that. It's relative to where the footballer started.Extraordinary leap in development? Michael Keane. Really?!
Now I realized how generic this player was in old school Fifa and PES. Nobody cares about Xavi until Pep came along. Good shout out there.I think Van Dijk, at least, had all the tools to become a world-class center-back, he just had to work on his understanding of the game. It’s quite often that those players don’t develop mentally and end up like David Luiz. I didn’t expect him to become unquestionably the best defender in the world though.
Salah, Mane, Firmino, Wijnaldum, Henderson... you see the trend. Klopp and his magic. Harry Kane, obviously.
If we’re talking a bit further away, than Xavi. He was a good midfielder, nothing more (at least he seemed to be at the time). Very tidy and smart, but that was it. There were always more talented midfielders around — de la Peña, Deco etc. Barca wanted to sell him, but newly-appointed Pep stopped that. And then he dominated anyone who faced him on the pitch regardless of their talent or workrate, game after game, season after season. When Iniesta came through, he was seen as a mercurial talent —Xavi wasn’t.
ThisLingard developed into a level of a shitness I never thought possible.