Has the worlds best footballer ever played in the english league

Could English football ever attract the worlds top player in his prime to its league. Its never happened yet.

Up late watching the cricket.

Think the Balon Dor only started in 1990 so there are official world players of the year from then. Before then I don't think there would be any argument Maradona was the best player ( greatest ever )from around 84 with probably Van Basten and Gullit taking over from him in the late 80's.
In the period between 70-80 again the top player in the world are the obvious ones such as Pele, Beckenbauer, Cruyff. Even Muller and some of the other Brazilians would not have made it to the single best player in the world in any year in that company.

Which leaves us with the early 80's. While Hoddle was definitely a great player by any standards your forgetting Jed about the great Brazilian team of that period most of whom never played in Europe. I reckon most people including myself would take Zico over Hoddle from 1981-83.

Huge problem for the UK is climate

I know City and Utd  pay £300k but I could think of a thousand better places to live esp if  you've grown up on a Brazilian or Spanish beach

Agree the uk climate is a huge factor.

Charming ... it's how some of us make a living but Goodnight .

Don't mean to be nosey. Just wondering what its like these days in my old job.

Doesn't matter. The Prem is still the best league in the world. © Sky, Alan Green, the panel on MOTD etc.

Funnily enough paddletoe the Zico thing was a bugbear for me at the time, in that, yes, he was obviously a talent but people would be talk in him up left right and centre, but in most cases it was merely on his reputation because very few had actually seen him play.

And then when they did see him play, namely at that world cup, he was overshadowed by he chain-smoking philosopher and Brazil got knocked out by the first decent team they played.

As for what hoddle was doing, well he won the fa cup twice, scoring in both finals and one of he replays, when that competition was still worth winning - and got spurs to the latter stages of two European trophies, one of which they won.

As I said, I am a little biased, but zico and hoddle were very similar players - the only difference was that zico played for and in Brazil, where his talent was admired and respected, and hoddle played in england, where his talent was barely even understood.

Jed i know exactly what you mean about Zico. He had this name which summed up a certain style to any young lad growing up in Europe at that time but if you look at some of the old clips of him and his goal scoring record in Brazil at that time he was in my opinion the best player in the world. While I would say Socrates was by far the most important player on and also off the pitch in that great Brazilian national side he was not as good as Zico.
Agree with everything you say about Hoddle. He was similar to Clough in that his talents were never appreciated and used enough by the England national sides. While Keegan won two European player of the year awards Hoddle was a far better player and brought a skill level to the game which Keegan could never come close to matching through his hard work. And I say that as a Liverpool fan from my youth.

Pires was so good he got himself a move to Villareal.

There's a place for both types though, Keegan was also a favourite of mine, he did have some skill and his Stakhanovite work ethic impressed.

Mikael, where Spurs finished is irrelevant really, the team was only just emerging from the post-Nicholson slump which had seen it relegated a couple of years before, and may have had the most feeble defensive unit in all my time watching the club.

And Pires was a sublime footballer - his star waxed and waned quickly granted, he was never the same player after doing his cruciate, But for he couple of seasons around the time of the hallowed Invincibles, he was unplayable. Should you have it in you to converse with Arsenal fans, ask one of them.

When Diego Maradona went to Napoli, their entire history was two Coppa Italias and two Serie Bs - one of them shared. Within 5 years, they'd won Serie A twice, were runners-up twice, won another Italian Cup and a UEFA Cup. That's what the best player in the world does for a team. They don't finish 10th, 4th, 4th etc. Using relegation isn't much of an excuse - it didn't stop Notts Forest winning a league and two European Cups, and they didn't have the best player in the world playing for them.

The best 'footballer' cannot be a goalie. Ever.

He's definitely the best 'keeper I've seen though, I'll give you that, and definitely was as important to Man Ure as the three you mentioned, if not more so.

Schmeichel was about half as good as Patrick Jennings. I can't think of any higher praise I could throw at him.

The best 'footballer' cannot be a goalie. Ever.
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Schmeichel was exceptional  but have agree with the above

You could definitely put up an argument Hoddle was the best player in European football for a very short period around 1980 before Platini and Maradonna came along.

Speaking of moot points, this thread would have lasted one post had Sheff Utd signed Maradona instead of Alex Sabella!

I'm hardly dissing him, just not drinking the White Hart Lane kool-aid!

Platini was already established as a great player around that time paddle toe, he had been the heartbeat of the very capable st Etienne side of the late 70s and early 80s which won the french league and reached a couple of cup finals. His fame was not at its zenith though to be fair.