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Players That Aren’t Quite Elite Level …


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22 hours ago, sheffield_dave said:

Big fan of that, actually. Always thought needing to see players do it in England is a load of absolute t*ss.

 

Got to love those guys who are happy to just dominate their own league for years and seem content to do just that. Bonus points if it's Serie A for the nostalgia of guys like Inzaghi, Del Piero and Batistuta. 

I'll offer you an Antonio Di Natale at Udinese

 

120 goals in 172 Serie A games between 2009 and 2014. Sixth highest scorer in Serie A history. 12 years at Udinese and the only time I think he ever came close to leaving was when the Chinese league started lobbing money about. Never seemed to be a consideration for other big clubs despite consistently banging them in.

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18 hours ago, BridportOwl said:

I would have the tier down from elite as being someone who couldn't make the jump from Championship to Prem.

If you play several seasons in the top division of any of the major leagues across Europe then you are an elite player in my mind.

 

 

Elite players like Mark Pembridge?

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2 hours ago, Kopparberg said:

Maybe having Messi, Ronaldo, Haaland, Salah etc around at a similar time hasn’t helped players look a level below - at the ‘top, top’ has been such a high level 

 

I feel like Haaland is in the middle of his career,  at 23. 

 

If he keeps going like he is, he will break many records before he's 30....BUT

 

I still think he lacks something that makes him at the very top of the tree. 

 

I don't think he's particularly a match winner, and definitely benefits from Man City being set up to supply him.  He can go missing and be a  Jordan Rhodes/Adam Le Fondre  in that he's got no other game apart from scoring goals. 

 

Granted, he does score A LOT of goals.

 

 

 

 

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I feel like the Turkish Super Lig is a pretty good representation of this right now. Players like Zaha, Dzeko, Balotelli, Icardi, etc who’ve all had brilliant careers and are undoubtedly pretty good at football… but never been the best of the best 

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On 15/03/2024 at 15:41, J. Bauer said:

I'll offer you an Antonio Di Natale at Udinese

 

120 goals in 172 Serie A games between 2009 and 2014. Sixth highest scorer in Serie A history. 12 years at Udinese and the only time I think he ever came close to leaving was when the Chinese league started lobbing money about. Never seemed to be a consideration for other big clubs despite consistently banging them in.


Reyt shout. 

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What about Pedro? 

 

A very, very good player for both Barca and Chelsea, yet probably never really got the credit he deserved because he was often overshadowed by more high profile names. 

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Just now, SiJ said:

What about Pedro? 

 

A very, very good player for both Barca and Chelsea, yet probably never really got the credit he deserved because he was often overshadowed by more high profile names. 

Still playing at 36 btw for Lazio. 

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1 hour ago, SiJ said:

What about Pedro? 

 

A very, very good player for both Barca and Chelsea, yet probably never really got the credit he deserved because he was often overshadowed by more high profile names. 


Get where you’re coming from, but I’d say winning the World Cup, Euros, multiple CL and league titles, domestic cups, scoring in a CL, EL and Euros final is pretty elite!

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