Shame he played for spurs.
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One player having given this some thought that must go on this list is Kazimierz Deyna. Such a clever and probing player with a great shot.
People talk often of the dutch side in 74 but Poland were very very good in that tournament. Like Cruyff everything came from this players guile and skill. Came to England were we got glimpses of greatness but he suffered to many injuries and he was never the same player.
Is this all a scheme to poolshark me out of some money? I’m getting closer and closer to offering you a paypal transfer in exchange for an actual list. 
I cant narrow it as more and more players come to mind now. Thats outside all the talent you and others have listed.
i mean another one that not many will know and I only seen because of a Pen friend who sent me D. Tblisi videos was David Kipiani.
Messi has played as a 10, as has Maradona
Laudrup’s vision/through balls are the best
In terms of second strikers, Baggio and Del Piero (97-98) are probably better than Bergkamp overall. Although they lack his vision
Also are we forgetting Rivaldo?
Fabregas is definitely up there, I’d have him above Riquelme and Ozil.
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Knew I was completely forgetting someone. Fuck.
BLASPHEMY I WON’T HEAR IT! (Refuse to be completely objective about Bergkamp, or else he probably wouldn’t be this high on that list, tbf)
Gutted we missed out on him
Imagine his style blended with that invincible team 
I do think Prime Baggio is a bit before most posters time here. He was kind of strangulated by the negative Serie A tactics, much like Bergkamp. If he’d come to the PL he’d have way more space to fully showcase his ability
Check out his best goals, it’s pure silk. His dribbling and change of direction is beautiful to watch and his corkscrew shots are unreal:
A few of his assists in his later career
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Baggio was the man
Totally agree about Baggio, it’s why I didn’t want to put him 10th, he was one of my absolute favourites to watch and emulate during that period along with Bergkamp.
Certainly could make a case for him going above Özil, Riquelme, or Nedved (or Bergkamp, but not going there), but Özil and Riquelme at their peak for me were perfect modern 10s. But yeah, nothing in it between those guys really.
Also not sure where to put Rivaldo on that list. Think the only solution is to remove Iniesta from consideration 
, because Rivaldo has got to go in the top 10, probably as high as 4-6th.
As a kid-
Baggio, Bergkamp and R9 were my three favourite players.
Yeah those three + Henry, Laudrup, Zidane, Raúl, and Rivaldo are who I instantly think of when I think of mid-late 90s football. As well as Guardiola and Redondo, don’t think people realise how important Guardiola was as a player, if I was training to be a 6 back then he would’ve been the person I would’ve been looking at.
Watching this Last Dance documentary has me wishing there were similar level documentaries on 90s football…nothing quite hits my nostalgia feels like 90s sports (football).
Remember Maldini (spanish, Julio Maldonado, not the Italian player) did a really cool recounting of Ronaldo’s career with him there in the studio offering his comments throughout, going through it year by year. Didn’t have nearly the production level or storytelling of The Last Dance, but it was cool…someone should really do that for Ronaldo, or for Zidane, in English, with a big budget like Lst Dance. Or Baggio…could probably dig up some cool off the field Dennis Rodman type anecotes on him pretty easily.
EDIT: Ronaldo thing I’m talking about below, just a preview though, but might be worth watching anyways:
Remember him talking about in that show how his philosophy was always to make the goalkeeper commit himself first, waiting to the absolute last moment. Similar to the line Wenger parroted in the 2000s.
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Out of the players on your list I think I’d put Baggio joint top with Laudrup. Both stand out genius
I’m not sure any of these highlighted should be top 10 and all should rate below prime Pablo Aimar who was bossing La Liga and European comps in the early 00s. He carried that team. There’s a reason the top teams weren’t after Riquelme, he was too lethargic. And Ozil as we knows shrinks to the occasion and has a fear of shooting. Players who carry their clubs/nations to league titles and European/World finals rank higher imo and neither of those did that.
Also Mendieta is worth a mention.
Aimar was fucking awesome to watch at his peak, and was amazing for Valencia, but it didn’t last long, he had injuries, and Riquelme is the one who goes down as the significantly more important player for Argentina, and considering what he did for Villarreal too (remember, Valencia was a genuine big club then-- Villarreal wasn’t anything), he definitely goes above Aimar.
I did think about including Aimar, and if you did it based on how good they were just at their very peak, you could include him for sure, I idolised him at Valencia, but I don’t think you can really make a reasonable case for putting above anyone I’ve put on the list. Perhaps Fàbregas at 10b 
Not gonna comment on your Özil comment because that’s a whole other discussion. But just gonna say 10-12 Özil (and don’t include 13 here not for any fault of his own, but rather Mourinho’s) was a perfect modern 10. Riquelme was also, but I get that if you don’t rate Özil you probably won’t rate Riquelme that much (though Riquelme controlled a midfield, part of the reason I was inclined to include him as CMs).
That’s not fair to that team and those players. Canizares, Ayala, Albelda, Baraja and Vicente all too were really good players. I’m surely forgetting others too.
Mendieta is someone I completely forgot about for the CM list, and who definitely would be in it. I would consider him more a CM than a 10.
Riquelme was absolutely brilliant for Villarreal… That season when they played us in the semi’s… you just couldn’t contain him. Always able to keep the ball under any pressure, dribble himself out, brilliant vision to feed the attackers… Really good shot too. Looking at those sheere, book number 10s, he was one of the best I saw.
Another player I’ll mention, because no one did here, is Micoud. Damn he was absolutely brilliant for Werder throughout all of his time there and Werder were the most enjoyable team alongside us in the Europe at that time. Insanely creative player.
Btw, my God I totally forgot Rivaldo :giroud3:
How is he not on your list up there @AbouCuellar ?!
Ohh I see this was already discussed. 
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No specific order, just a few I rank as the best from my time following football:
David Silva
Lampard
Zidane
Xabi Alonso
Yaya Toure
I forgot Cantona. He was to an extent the making of Man United. Won the league twice with Marseille. Goes on strike. Moves to newly promoted Leeds and carries them to the league title. Has an argument with Leeds management, moves to 3rd place Man United the following season. They go on an amazing run largely down to his influence.
United go onto win 4 out 5 of the next league titles including 2 doubles. The only one they fail on is the one he has a long ban for kicking a Palace fan.
In 156 PL games he has 70 goals and 56 assists
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