Wesley Sneijder retires

charlenefan

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Van Der Vaart----------Sneijder
--------------Ibrahimovic--------------

What an Ajax side that was :drool:
 

Revan

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Really liked him as a player and desperately wanted him at United after the World Cup 2010. I also think that he was robbed of a Ballon D'Or (which he would have won under old and current voting scheme, but not on the FIFA Ballon D'Or voting which was in 2010).
 

Revan

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One of the biggest myths in football that he should have won the Ballon d’or in 2010. Was absolutely obvious to everyone at the time that Messi was the best player on the planet by a mile. People just look back and see how much he won and what he did with Holland that year and say he should have won the Ballon d’or, but that's bollocks.


Cracking player though.
He won the journalist voting, which was how Ballon D'Or was chosen for the entire history bar 5 or so years. Ribery won it too in 2013, but again unfortunate for him. If it was the FIFA Ballon D'Or system, Modric wouldn't have won it last year.
 

El Jefe

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One of the biggest myths in football that he should have won the Ballon d’or in 2010. Was absolutely obvious to everyone at the time that Messi was the best player on the planet by a mile. People just look back and see how much he won and what he did with Holland that year and say he should have won the Ballon d’or, but that's bollocks.


Cracking player though.
Messi is the best player every year if we're being honest but considering how the Ballon d'or has been awarded in the past, Sneijder 100% should have won it that year.

The fact that he had a better world cup than Messi meant the trophy should have been his that year.
 

Henrik Larsson

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Where's he been for the past few years?
After Galatasaray there was a short failed stint at OGC Nice, who also had Balotelli at the time I think. Followed by a move to Qatar aged 33.

Been an absolutely brilliant player for the Dutch NT. Club career is more mixed, didn't have the greatest mentality and liked his fags and booze, but he still got to show it at the highest level if only for a relatively short period.
 

Red00012

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He was a great signing by us to be fair after years of transfer speculation.
 

FootballHQ

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He won the journalist voting, which was how Ballon D'Or was chosen for the entire history bar 5 or so years. Ribery won it too in 2013, but again unfortunate for him. If it was the FIFA Ballon D'Or system, Modric wouldn't have won it last year.
When you look at the criteria nowadays for Balon D'Or it seems to be key player for CL winning side (Van Dijk could well win it this year) or guy who pushes national team to new heights, Snejider did both in 2010. Little stuff like scoring two second half goals to shock Brazil in quarter finals and obviously instrumental for Inter when they won CL.

Very good player who's an obvious stick on for the "players who should've played in premier league at some point" thread. Was actually surprised he didn't end up at Chelsea when Mourinho went back for his second spell, think he was playing in Turkey at that point.
 

OldTrevil

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In a different timeline he won us the CL while wining back to back balon d'ors and is retiring a United hero.
 

anant

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Brilliant player. Will never forget his contribution for our side. Deserves a stand named after him at OT, if not a statue outside
 

Jed I. Knight

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Still gutted we didn't pick him up when he left Madrid.

Marvellous player to watch at his best.

I do maintain that his 2010 World Cup performances are generally overrated because he managed to grab a couple of goals. Not that scorings goals isn't important, mind you, but I thought he was a bit off his best in South Africa.
 

Infra-red

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One season wonder. Career fell off a cliff after the 2010 World Cup. I'm glad we never signed him.
 

2cents

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We should've got him and Robben in the Ronaldo deal.
A front four of him, Robben, Rooney and Nani, and we’d have won the league and CL that season, and perhaps another CL in the following years.
 

Infra-red

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Really? He was fantastic in the 2009-10 treble season, quite good at the World Cup (as mentioned above, his goal tally flattered his performances there somewhat), was terrible for the final four months of 2010 (which is also why he didn't deserve the Ballon d'Or for that year), and then never really recovered.

One absolutely fantastic season and a load of other decent/ok/poor ones - pretty much the definition of a one-season wonder, no?
 

Offside

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He won the journalist voting, which was how Ballon D'Or was chosen for the entire history bar 5 or so years. Ribery won it too in 2013, but again unfortunate for him. If it was the FIFA Ballon D'Or system, Modric wouldn't have won it last year.
The Ballon d’or is the best player in the world award. Messi was the best player in the world. Simple.
 

K13

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One of the biggest myths in football that he should have won the Ballon d’or in 2010. Was absolutely obvious to everyone at the time that Messi was the best player on the planet by a mile. People just look back and see how much he won and what he did with Holland that year and say he should have won the Ballon d’or, but that's bollocks.


Cracking player though.
I thought Sneijder was absolutely class that year. When you consider some players get it for a great world cup and others for an outstanding champions league campaign and he was incredible in both that year for Inter Milan and Holland. He won the UEFA CL award for best midfielder and second best player award at the WC.

He was brilliant against Barcelona in both semi final legs. The distance he ran and the quality of his passing was immense especially when the talk was whether he could adapt to Jose's demanding work ethic. I am sure I was not the only person begging us to put an offer in for him.

Messi is a generational player so the fact he won it was not particularly a shock but it was more the case that Sneijder wasn't even in the top 3 after the exceptional year he had.
 

Revan

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The Ballon d’or is the best player in the world award. Messi was the best player in the world. Simple.
It has always been more like the most influential player, an MVP award. Always, bar during those few years it was merged with Fifa.
 

Offside

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It has always been more like the most influential player, an MVP award. Always, bar during those few years it was merged with Fifa.
I suppose it has recently, with Modric winning it.
 

berbatrick

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Really? He was fantastic in the 2009-10 treble season, quite good at the World Cup (as mentioned above, his goal tally flattered his performances there somewhat), was terrible for the final four months of 2010 (which is also why he didn't deserve the Ballon d'Or for that year), and then never really recovered.

One absolutely fantastic season and a load of other decent/ok/poor ones - pretty much the definition of a one-season wonder, no?
He was influential for Real's La Liga in 2008 too. I'm guessing he did ok in 2009 but that was Pep's Barca and Real got wiped out.
 

K13

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One game away from winning everything in one year.
If he had won the world cup?

I have always wondered whether the way the Dutch approached the final against Spain was responsible for Sneijder missing out. de Jong's studs up tackle really set the tone and Webb admitted later that he did not see it but if he had it would have given a red card. It was a niggly, nasty game and I remember being so disappointed at how physical it was given the number of quality players that were on the pitch. It was a horrible game.
 

Renegade

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Found it strange many wanted him signed to play in Fergies midfield 2. Could he have performed there? I only saw him deliver world class performance’s as a pure 10. Fergie wasn’t really using one if I recall around that time.
 

Revan

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I suppose it has recently, with Modric winning it.
It was always like that. For example Shevchenko winning instead of Ronaldinho, Cannavaro in 2006, Ronaldo in 2002 and so on. Only during the merge with Fifa award, it went to best/most popular player.