Top 10 foreign players in Premier League History

Italy. So many failures. But I try.

Cudicini
Pistone-Festa-Materazzi-Dossena
DiMatteo-Aquilani-Carbone
Zola-DiCanio-Balotelli

Desailly was hardly past it. Was still decent enough to be considered over a makeshift Petit. What about Laurent Blanc then. Although he was more past it than Desailly. Otherwise, that French team is pretty boss.

Stipulation would be that Pires and Henry to take all penalties. Together:



@Baser - Freund on the right for Germany I would LOVE to see that in action. Plenty of work und POWER in that German team, but very little flair. Would be excruciatingly efficient though. Just. As. Expected.

Dutch team has shite defence, awesome attack.

Spain team - Reyes was crap, I'd already have Mata over him in a team similar to Fade Out's which would give Le Frenchies a real run for their money.

French team
Spanish team
Dutch team
German team
Portuguese team
Italy team

FESTA

Reyes was crap? He lit up the league dude. He was no Luque or Luis 'I prefer to play in CL' Garcia.

Fade out wrote:Okay, before you ask why did I include Hierro in Spain XI. Replace him with Cuellar.

Can't believe you left out Salgado!


and Mendieta!

Fade out wrote:Reyes was crap? He lit up the league dude. He was no Luque or Luis 'I prefer to play in CL' Garcia.

Lit up the league? What, when, how? He played in an exceptional Arsenal team, was neither great himself or even one of their stand out players.

Mata is already >>>>> Reyes. Truest story you'll hear today

Belgium

----------------Mignolet

Boyota-Albert-Van Buyten-Vermaelen

---------Kompany--Fellaini

Degryse-----Dembele------Mpenza

-----------------Lukaku


Subs: Vaesen, Hoefkens, Van Damme, Vanden Borre, Strupar

I think I really reached the limit with the five substitutes there, though perhaps there's a case for Strupar over Lukaku in the starting eleven given their respective achievements in the Premier League to date. Those missing out include Jonathan Blondel, used only twice by Tottenham, and the nicely named naughty genius Ruud Boffin, a goalkeeper at West Ham.



A foreign Newcastle XI

-----------------Krul

Beye-Albert-Coloccini-Enrique

Solano-Hamann-Tiote-Ginola

-------------Ba--Asprilla

Subs: Srnicek, Dabizas, Hottiger, Cabaye, Viana, Robert, Martins

I remember him contributing more to Arsenal than Henry at times. No wonder United targetted him with Neville brothers? I can't give you dates. He scored, assisted & was generally a constant threat. Remember how it used to be 1.Robben 2.Reyes 3.C(rap) Ronaldo in old 606? But of course, he turned out to have a poor career.

christmasborocooper wrote:

Fade out wrote:Okay, before you ask why did I include Hierro in Spain XI. Replace him with Cuellar.

Can't believe you left out Salgado!


and Mendieta!

Yeah Mendieta over Arteta maybe? Ivan Campo had a good PL career too.

King Reyes....

lets make an england team (players which played in germany, spain and italy)

------------xxxxxxxx

xxxx-woodcrockgate--xxx-xxxx

-macmanaman---beckham-hargreaves---cole

-------owen----xxxx

or are there some ozers!!

edit:

oh wait beckham

Noah und der Bale wrote:

Fade out wrote:Reyes was crap? He lit up the league dude. He was no Luque or Luis 'I prefer to play in CL' Garcia.

Lit up the league? What, when, how? He played in an exceptional Arsenal team, was neither great himself or even one of their stand out players.

Mata is already >>>>> Reyes. Truest story you'll hear today

him and Ryan Babel stole a box of matches from the newsagents

I don't think we'll truly see the best of Reyes until he signs on loan for Everton in 2/3 years time.

Someone do a Brazil XI.

Arge XI:

------???
Zabaleta--Colo---Heinze
------Mascherano
Maxi----------Gutierrez
---Zarate-----Aguero
-----Tevez
-----------Crespo

3-1-2-2-1-1 formation!

Gomes
Rafael-Alex-Luiz-Sylvinho
Edu-Silva-Lucas
Juninho-Robinho-Elano

Aurelio ahead of Silvinho?

Yeah, Sandro vs Lucas vs Ramires vs Anderson vs Denilson - Lucas ahead ATM.

Agreed on front 3.

Bashmachkin wrote:
A foreign Newcastle XI

-----------------Krul

Beye-Albert-Coloccini-Enrique

Solano-Hamann-Tiote-Ginola

-------------Ba--Asprilla

Subs: Srnicek, Dabizas, Hottiger, Cabaye, Viana, Robert, Martins

That team is a bastard.

Spurs Foreign XI

-----------------Gomes

Corluka---Kaboul------Naybet-------BAE

-----------Modric----Davids
Malbranque------------------------Ginola

----------Klinsmann--Berbatov

Subs: Cerny, Bassong, Chimbonda, Ziege, Freund, Zokora, Kanouté

Ours is better than yours Kris, just saying.

I'll give you Keeper, centre back and left back and right wing,

But Modric-Davids

and Klinsmann-Berbatov

are better. Tiote-Hamann = plenty of resolute strength, but little or no creativity. Ba-Asprilla: neither as good as Klinsmann or Berbatov when they played for us.

That front line frankly makes me a teeny bit sexually excited

Noah und der Bale wrote:

I'll give you Keeper, centre back and left back and right wing,

But Modric-Davids

and Klinsmann-Berbatov

are better. Tiote-Hamann = plenty of resolute strength, but little or no creativity. Ba-Asprilla: neither as good as Klinsmann or Berbatov when they played for us.

That front line frankly makes me a teeny bit sexually excited

Tiote > old man Davids

You can have the front line, we will have the rest.

Noah und der Bale wrote:

Fade out wrote:Reyes was crap? He lit up the league dude. He was no Luque or Luis 'I prefer to play in CL' Garcia.

Lit up the league? What, when, how? He played in an exceptional Arsenal team, was neither great himself or even one of their stand out players.

Mata is already >>>>> Reyes. Truest story you'll hear today

Reyes was brilliant at the start of the 2004/5 season, then it all started to go downhill. He was a pretty decent player for us, even if ultimately a disappointment considering the levels of expectation and the price. If he had Ronaldo's determination and self-belief he could easily have been one of the best players in the league, but instead he's a bit of a pussy who never fulfilled his potential.

An all-foreign Arsenal XI, damn it's going to be tough to find 11 players for that team...

Sweden:

---------------------Hedman

Nilsson--------Mellberg-----Svensson-----Edman

Alexandersson---Larrsson---Linderoth-----Limpar

--------------------Ljungberg

--------------------Elmander

Villa (tried to stick to players who were actually good for us, otherwise could put likes of Pires, Ginola and Schmeichel based on exploits elsewhere):

Bosnich
Mellberg-Alpay-Laursen-Bouma
Solano-Boateng-Petrov-Carbone
Yorke-Carew

Subs: Friedel, Cuellar, Hitz, Milosevic, Angel

Defence is strong, but lack options for a bit of spark in midfield, hence had to draft in Solano and Carbone who were both only with us for a season.

Deluded F*ck wrote:Sweden:

---------------------Hedman

Nilsson--------Mellberg-----Svensson-----Edman

Alexandersson---Larrsson---Linderoth-----Limpar

--------------------Ljungberg

--------------------Elmander

But can Norway beat them. I say yes!

Thorsvedt
Berg-Hangeland-Johnsen-Bjornebye
Pedersen-Leonhardsen-Bakke-Riise
Carew-Solskjaer

Plenty of decent subs too: Fjortoft, Haaland, Lundekvam, Ostenstad, Flo, Iversen, Bohinen.

I might have used wiki to remember some of these

debaser wrote:

Deluded F*ck wrote:Sweden:

---------------------Hedman

Nilsson--------Mellberg-----Svensson-----Edman

Alexandersson---Larrsson---Linderoth-----Limpar

--------------------Ljungberg

--------------------Elmander

But can Norway beat them. I say yes!

Thorsvedt
Berg-Hangeland-Johnsen-Bjornebye
Pedersen-Leonhardsen-Bakke-Riise
Carew-Solskjaer

Plenty of decent subs too: Fjortoft, Haaland, Lundekvam, Ostenstad, Flo, Iversen, Bohinen.

I might have used wiki to remember some of these

You're not alone

Non-foreign XI?

---------Seaman
Neville-Rio-Campbell-Cole
---------Keane
Beckham---Scholes--Giggs
-------Rooney
-----------Shearer

vs

Fade out wrote:
------Barthez
Sagna-Gallas-Desailly-Evra
Vieira-Makelele
Ginola-Cantona-Pires
Henry

Oooh.

Non foreign XI to win on penalties

A non-foreign (including players from the UK and Ireland) Newcastle XI

------------------Given
Watson-Howey-Woodgate-Beresford
------------------Batty
----------Lee-----------Speed
---------------Beardsley
------------Shearer--Cole

Second-XI/Squad Players

-----------------Harper
Barton-Peacock-Venison-Elliott
Gillespie--Dyer--Clark--Sellars
--------Ferdinand--Bellamy

I think the first team is excellent; I made the second because, whilst it isn't as strong overall, it was hard leaving some players out of the first. It is hard to choose between Ferdinand and Cole in particular; I suppose in a system with wingers Ferdinand would be a sensible choice; but though I relegated my wingers to the second eleven, still I think the first eleven would have plenty of width with Watson and Beresford two hugely fit and adventurous full-backs, with Lee having played on the right for much of his early career, and with Speed's left foot.

A bit sad though that careers of Woodgate, Dyer, Bowyer & Bellamy (even Jenas) were less realized than one envisioned by Sir Bobby Robson. He tried to weed out juvenile behavior & temperament issues (& Lauren Robert for that matter). But couldn't do it sadly. Some like Woodgate had injury troubles. What do you guys think, Bash/Kimbo? What went wrong? Souness?

I think, in short, Dyer and Woodgate's careers have been beset by injuries, and injuries more than other factors have prevented them fulfilling the promise they showed - though Woodgate was magnificent in patches for Leeds, us and Madrid when fit, and Dyer was an important part of a side that finished fourth then third in the Premier League. Bellamy was also an important part of that side, and his career has stumbled at points since and perhaps he hasn't experienced the same sort of highs elsewhere as he did with us; but overall I think he has had a pretty successful career, and I think he actually improved as a player with age, after leaving us, perhaps losing a little pace but becoming a better finisher, and a much better striker of the ball in general.

Jenas is a different issue, because he was really good for us for about a year - for about two half-seasons - after joining from Forest at eighteen years of age, but after that his form fell and he never really progressed as a player. Considering how his career has gone, it is difficult to think that a world-beater ever lurked inside of him - temperamentally he isn't strong and suffers dips in form and struggles to assert himself in games; and perhaps what appeared initially in the eighteen/nineteen year old as real football intelligence was instead just a fairly superficial cleverness. Given how immediately and easily he adapted to the Premier League and to our side when he joined us, given his performances in his first year, I confess that I did think of him then even as a possible future England captain, and thought that with him and Viana we had our midfield set for the next ten years.

To move from considering the players as individuals and charting their careers, and to instead consider them in the context of the period Robson's Newcastle existed, my feeling at the time was and my memory of the period is that Robson did a number of things in his last couple of seasons that didn't serve the team or his young players well. In 2002/03 we finished third in the league, but actually ended that season poorly (at one point, very briefly, the title had appeared a not entirely unrealistic possibility), and from that point I think we were on a downward course under Robson. In a word, I genuinely think that - not out of any sort of xenophobia, but because he had a core of players, was close to some of them, and thus an ideal formed - he became concerned with fielding a team of primarily English players, who would stand precisely as 'his'.

We signed Lee Bowyer prior to the 2003/04 season and started playing him on the right ahead of Solano, who was sold in January 2004. That served to worsen the side and to severely worsen our style of play - Solano for me always linked our play together; and with him on the right, Robert on the left, Speed and Dyer in the centre, and Shearer and Bellamy up front, we'd had an attack with everything. Hugo Viana, after signing for us in 2002, hadn't ever cemented a place in our first eleven, but after contributing significantly the season before, scoring some good goals and providing some wonderful assists, and becoming a fan favourite, Robson stopped using him altogether in the 2003/04 season; persisting instead with Dyer and Jenas alongside Speed even when injuries limited our options, and despite Jenas's form by this point having tailed off noticeably.

In a similar vein, Robson stopped using LuaLua. This was based, I felt, on LuaLua deciding to play international football for the Congo rather than for England (one of Robson's problems with Solano centred round him playing for Peru, which was grossly unfair of Robson and irrelevant given how little the issue actually affected us). With Bellamy suffering an injury-hit 2003/04, Robson partnered Ameobi with Shearer, which was a partnership that never remotely worked - they were both too similar, too static, took up the same positions. LuaLua was the obvious partner for Shearer in Bellamy's absence.

We finished fifth in 2003/04, and the fans were not happy and I think understandably so given not only the loss of Champions League football, but given also some of the apparent issues with Robson's handling of the team, and given the way our play had rapidly deteriorated. That summer we sold Speed and brought in Nicky Butt - which I always considered entirely Robson's doing despite his asserting the contrary - and at the start of the 2004/05 season, Robson began looking to use Bowyer, Ambrose and Milner (the latter two having signed a few months previously) as our wide players, looking to sideline Robert as he'd sidelined Solano, Viana and LuaLua.

We were much worse off for these decisions, which turned us, in the course of just over a year, from a promising team full of options and attacking coherence to a team really in disarray. Viana and LuaLua obviously suffered; but I think Jenas in particular suffered too, played without respite despite his lack of form and increasing tiredness. I think Robson was also too protective of his favoured players, whilst occasionally having a go at Solano, Robert and Viana in the media.