The 25 greatest players in the history of the Premier League
Premier League at 25: Football correspondent Jack PittBrooke selects the finest players to have graced the Premier League over the past quarter of a century To commemorate 25 years of the Premier League, Jack PittBrookehas selected the greatest players ever to feature in the Premier League.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Manchester United have the most players on the list, with of their former players and one current star all making an appearance.
20 per cent of Jack›s list still play in the Premier League, with the majority having retired. 4 players on the list are still playing, but for teams either outside the top-flight or overseas.
Behind Ronaldo and Rooney, the next-most important man to United’s recovery in the second half of the 2000s. He was a stylish player for Tottenham but over 11 seasons at Old Trafford he has given them the control that they lacked during their difficult years in the early 2000s. And he was even more important to their resurgence in Europe.
The most decisive attacking player in the Premier League of this decade, Hazard came to Chelsea from Lille in He was then Chelsea’s best player in their title wins of both 2015 and 2017, mixing an ability to burst past defenders with an eye for goal and a muscular physicality that opponents often underestimated. And even then it feels like his very best football is still ahead of him.
The most important signing of the Jose Mourinho era at Chelsea, Drogba joined from Marseille in 2004 and once he established himself he was the perfect modern target man. His power, presence and goals were crucial to Mourinho’s Chelsea, and then to Carlo Ancelotti’s, and he won three titles before returning to help out in the 2014-15 title win too.
With all due respect to Petr Cech, Schmeichel is the greatest goalkeeper of the Premier League era, a man almost as important as Eric Cantona in giving Manchester United the presence, charisma and quality they needed to reassert themselves as the best team in the country in the Won five titles at United, and played for Aston Villa and Manchester City afterwards.
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