Fabregas
Rooney
Giggs
Didier Deschamps
No. No way. Guy was absolutely world class at 17/18 years old. Sure he declined in later years but played at absolute top level for the guts of a decade.
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You have to remember though that a lot of the players Wenger signed to play out wide in those years (Nasri, Hleb and Rosicky) were probably better CAMs than they were wide men so it’s testament to their talent that they still made it work.
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Rosicky was on 6 goals (in 18 games) before that big injury in 07/08. There was nothing wrong with his ‘productivity’.
Sometimes the ‘productivity’ of players can’t or shouldn’t always be measured in numbers. Hleb was really good at dribbling and keeping the ball with him, creating space for others and keeping the focus on the ball/less on his teammates. Making us essentially tick.
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No player is world class at 18 or 19. This is exactly why he’s overrated
I think R9 was world class at 19 so I’m not in agreement with this
Yep it definitely feels like people revised their opinion of him after he left us.
Maybe it’s because I was younger and less involved so wasn’t aware of what everyone was saying, but apart from the Barca hugging I really can’t remember anyone saying a bad word about him before that, or being dissatisfied with his performances.
Age is not an insurmountable barrier as to whether you’re world class or not.
Sure it’s rare but it’s still possible.
Q: Don’t rate or feel they’re overrated?
Might be revised among Arsenal fans but objectively, other fans wouldn’t have called him world class at any point of his career.
Now you’re spouting straight BS mate.
Pull the other one 
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I’ll fully admit to being a complete Fabregas fanboy from the first time I saw him kick a ball in the Emirates cup to the point where he left the club. But I’m also not blinded by that and I know the reality that basically any club in the world would have had him and had him in their teams just about the whole time he played for us. The very definition of world class as far as I’m concerned.
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Cesc was undoubtedly among worlds best midfielders from around 2007/08 till 2010/11… and I’m even being… narrow… here, you could probably spread that a bit…
The heart, soul and mind of our game basically from around 2006 till he left. One of the most creative players I’ve ever watched (no one from active stars nowadays touches him really), probably the most creative premierleague player ever, close to bergkamp I guess…
That’s just my 10 cents. 
Btw, if he’s not world class, cazorla/ozil aren’t footballers.
Just to add some meat…
“And boy, could he could create. According to data from Opta between 2006-07 and 2010-11 no one in Europe’s five biggest leagues managed more assists than Fàbregas’s 60 – or created more than his 466 chances. Not Lionel Messi. Not Xavi or Mesut Özil, Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard, although they all made the top 10. Fàbregas also averaged 3.5 chances created for every 90 minutes he played – again better than anyone else in Europe.”
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Price won the WC at 17 and the rest of his career went well from there.
For me, Fabregas was stupidly highly rated by Arsenal fans and almost overlooked by media pundits as we had Rooney-mania going on pver here.
In actual fact, he was somewhere in between. A good player, but clearly not world class.
This bit isn’t true. I don’t think the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea (who were better than us) or even Liverpool (who were competing with us) had any place for Fabregas in their starting XI when I consider their teams between 2005 and 2010. That’s just in England alone.
Think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
Tbh it’s not an exact science. The issue is on the definition of world class in these things.
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True.
I’ve always thought in my head (rather unhelpfully and unfairly to a plethora of wonderful players out there) that there are only 11 world class players out there at any given time. 1 for every position. A player who could fit into any team and any time.
Others will have a different definition of world class. It’s hugely ambiguous
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