For all the pundits’ talk of the Premiership being the “best league in the world”, it has to be said that the amount of truly world class foreign players plying their trade in England has been minimal to say the least.

More often than not we get occassional glimpses of big name players from abroad who have seen their light diminished on the continent and come to England only when no European club of significant stature offers them a good enough deal. There have been a few notable exceptions though.

In the summer of 1994 Jurgen Klinsmann was seen by many as a faded talent playing in the virtual European backwaters of the French league with Monaco. He had garnered a reputation, more infamous than truly famous, for his theatrical dives and playacting when challenged rather than his deadly finishing in front of goal. Ignoring the negative reputation, then Tottenham Hotspur chairman Alan Sugar took a gamble on him and, even in that first glorious season 1994/95, saw immediate dividends.

Klinsmann proved himself to be btoh down to earth and self deprecating off the pitch and absolutely lethal in front of goal on it. He finished the season with an array of new admirers, his rightful footballing reputation restored and the Player of the Year award. Having revitalised his own career in England, Klinsmann also exercised a get out clause in his contract when Spurs failed to qualify for Europe and moved on to the higher echelons of Bayern Munich.

Parma’s Gianfranco Zola was somewhat more of an unknown quantity for the armchair supporter in England when he first signed for Chelsea and was instantly looked upon as another money hungry mercenary, mostly due to his age. Several seasons of sublime skill and fantastic goals, again coupled with a likeable personality, changed that and Zola now sits in the Chelsea Hall of Fame as one of their greatest all time players and one of the most entertaining performers in the history of the Premiership.

The latest foreign superstar to be unfairly denigrated before even kicking a ball has been Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids. Consistently one of the top midfield players in the world over the past decade, “the Pitbull” added Tottenham Hotspur to the glittering list of clubs he has represented, including such European greats as Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona and Inter Milan.

Doom and gloom merchants immediately painted him as another money grabber on his last legs but Davids’ inspirational performances and experience have helped improve the young Spurs side and propel them into fourth place in the Premiership at the start of January 2006. Far from being content to rest on his well paid laurels, Davids has shown that the fire within him still burns as brightly as it ever did.

The only regret we can have is not to have witnessed Edgar Davids and Roy Keane scrapping it out in the Premiership while both at their peak and that may well be the epitaph of the Premiership itself. With players like Christian Vieri being linked to English clubs in the January 2006 trabsfer window, why is the Premiership good enough when the big names are in their 30s and looking for a big payday but always outshone by Spain and Italy while they are at the peak of their powers?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 5th, 2006 at 8:42 am and is filed under General Football Articles. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.