THE Premier League has seen some of football’s greatest-ever players grace the competition.
Many people would expect the likes of Steven Gerrard and Harry Kane to make the top ten, but without a league title, they have fallen short of other legends.
Players have made their marks in the competition in various ways.
Some have shone thanks to their goalscoring ability, while others have shown leadership qualities.
Defenders have also stood out at times with their commitment to protecting clean sheets, no matter what.
Here is a list of the top ten Premier League stars of all time…
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10. Virgil Van Dijk
THERE has to be at least one defender on this list and in a crowded field, Liverpool’s Dutch general shades it.
Van Dijk was magnificent in the Reds’ 2019-20 title-winning campaign and made the Ballon D’Or podium the previous season.
Famously a man it is almost impossible to dribble past, his awareness and intelligence is uncommon, while his leadership qualities are a crucial factor for Klopp.
9. Eric Cantona
IT’S Cantona’s charisma and mystique, as well as his footballing genius which marks out the Frenchman as an all-time great.
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United had not won the title in 25 years before Alex Ferguson signed him from Leeds – where he had just won the last old First Division crown.
The next five years had everything, from sublime goals, to a kung-fu kick to faux-intellectual gibberish about seagulls and trawlers. What a man.
8. Alan Shearer
HE’S here for the sheer weight of goals alone – a total of 260 is still 47 clear of Harry Kane in second place.
The Geordie’s status as a local hero at Newcastle, for whom he snubbed Manchester United, also makes him special in an increasingly global league.
Before all that, his goals powered Blackburn to the title in 1995. A great target man, Shearer scored more absolute belters than he is often given credit for too.
7. Mo Salah
IT is rare for a wide player to score such a weight of goals but then Salah, under the guidance of Jurgen Klopp, has almost reinvented his position.
The Egyptian is a three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, two-time Footballer of the Year and PFA Player of the Year and a delight to watch as a master dribbler as well as a dead-eyed goalscorer.
6. Ryan Giggs
THE only man to have featured in all 13 of Alex Ferguson’s title-winning campaigns and with an extraordinary total of 162 assists in the competition, putting him 51 clear of any other player.
But more important than the stats, though, is remembering the thrill of watching the young Giggs in full flow, with his extreme pace and dribbling ability.
He reinvented himself in latter years and carried on making significant contributions until the age of 40.
5. Wayne Rooney
A great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals – the bicycle kick against Manchester City, the vicious volley against Newcastle, the 50-yarder at West Ham.
And don’t forget his introductory effort as a 16-year-old at Everton, a beauty to defeat Arsenal.
Rooney went on to become Manchester United’s all-time record scorer but the explosive excitement of his early years are what stand out.
4. Roy Keane
THE greatest captain, leader and hardman of an era in which those qualities have become far rarer in top-class football.
No Premier League player had a greater force of personality – and, boy, could he play too.
The Irishman was also one half of the competition’s greatest one-on-one rivalry, with Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira in an era when they skippered the league’s undisputed top two.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
THE only one of world football’s GOAT contenders to have played in the Premier League, although the Portuguese reached his peak after leaving United for Real Madrid.
Ronaldo was the key figure in the great United team which won three consecutive league titles between 2007 and 2009.
He was an electric, athletic, balletic winger back then, before he became one of football’s greatest ever goal machines playing centrally at the Bernabeu.
The less said about his return to Old Trafford in 2021, the better though.
2. Kevin De Bruyne
Indisputably the greatest player in arguably the greatest Premier League squad – Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – De Bruyne has registered 168 goal involvements in 244 appearances, including a century of assists.
But the Belgian is one of those rare players who does things which make you disbelieve your own eyes.
His 360-degree vision and the sixth sense which allows him to see impossible passes mark him out as a player who may go on to be regarded as the Premier League’s greatest ever before long.
1. Thierry Henry
IT was an FA Cup quarter-final at Portsmouth during Arsenal’s 2003-4 Invincibles campaign which crystallises the mind when nominating Henry as the Premier League’s greatest.
Henry was substituted on 72 minutes with the magnificent Gunners 5-0 up and the whole of Fratton Park rose to give him a standing ovation – an almost unthinkable eventuality in the partisan world of modern football.
The Frenchman had everything – devastating finishing, subtlety of touch, extreme intelligence, passing vision, strength, pace and a wonderful arrogance. As Pompey fans recognised.
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*To narrow it down, I decided to discount non-title winners, which is unfair on Gareth Bale, Harry Kane and Steven Gerrard. And goalkeepers, which is harsh on Peter Schmeichel and Petr Cech.
Yes, Dennis Bergkamp, Paul Scholes, Patrick Vieira, Sergio Aguero and Frank Lampard should all be on the list – but who are you going to leave off?
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
