On 3 December 2018, Andrey Arshavin announced his retirement from the game.
While such a declaration didn’t exactly provoke shock waves within the game...
Author - David Nesbit
Despite a twenty-year playing career commencing in 1996, the name of Antonio Di Natale is perhaps not as well-known in Britain and other places as many of his...
So the story goes, Schmeichel wrote to Liverpool in 1991 professing his admiration for the recently dethroned league champions and asked for a trial. With...
David ‘I drive a’ Bentley was one of a rare breed of footballers. He walked away from the game on his own terms with no regrets at exactly the moment he...
The name of Freddy Adu has become synonymous with that of unfulfilled promise within the game, yet his story deserves more than a cursory glance accompanied by...
Goran Pandev is perhaps the best-known Macedonian footballer of all time and certainly one of the most highly-decorated and celebrated.
In March 2019, he won...
Although he wasn’t the first Iranian player to try his luck in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, Ali Karimi is probably the most renowned. A...
Roy Makaay is perhaps slightly unlucky in as much as he played in the same era as several Dutch greats and so finds his legacy not quite as prominent as it...
Fourteen years after his retirement and Gabriel Batistuta’s legacy is such that he is regarded by many a wise sage as Argentina’s third greatest ever...
Gheorghe Hagi belongs to the small group of players who have played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona and, unlike Luis Figo Hagi managed to keep his legacy at...
There are a number of parallels that link Clarence Seedorf with his Dutch compatriot, Edgar Davids. They were both born in Suriname before moving with their...
There is a consensus in some quarters that Stan Collymore is one of English football’s great lost causes; a classic case of a man who had it all...
Keisuke Honda is celebrated as perhaps the most famous and decorated Japanese player of all time. Still playing at the age of 33, the much-travelled midfielder...
Although still only 33 years of age, the once-promising career of the French starlet seems all but over. Tipped to reach the very heights of European football...
As Arsenal lay in tenth place a staggering 40 points behind leaders Liverpool with over a third of the season still to go, thoughts invariably turn to the...
When any list of truly great Brazilian players is drawn up the usual suspects prevail. There is Pele of course, and then Carlos Alberto, Zico, Ronaldo...
In May 2019 the footballing world was shocked by the news that legendary Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas had suffered a heart attack. Aged only 37 at the...
Mention the name Patrick Kluivert to football fans and it is likely that images of him scoring the winning goal for Ajax in the 1995 Champions League Final...
Luca Toni is somewhat unique in his standing in the game in as much as he is seen as an idol without a particular club following. Such was the nomadic nature...
Edgar Davids was an enigma as a player and a coach. At times he seemed to perfectly embody the stereotypical Dutch footballing genius of perceived arrogance...
At the ripe old age of 39, Ricardo Oliveira shows no sign of quitting the game he has graced professionally for almost two decades.
A slightly late developer...
Alan Shearer aside, not many players have risked incurring the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson by resisting his overtures to join Manchester United, particularly...
When any list of ‘West Ham Legends’ is being drawn up, inevitably the names of truly great players such as Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds and Sir Trevor...
As I sit typing this article it is the day after Manchester United narrowly avoided humiliation on a grand scale by scraping past League One Rochdale in the...
It’s not always easy following in a famous and talented father’s footsteps – just ask George W Bush and Paul Dalglish. Two extreme examples perhaps, but...
When Barcelona came back from two goals down in injury time to secure an unlikely point against Villarreal in a surreal 4-4 draw at the beginning of April, the...
Kai Havertz is following a long line of expressive midfielders in beginning his career at German side, Bayer Leverkusen. Trailing in the footsteps of players...
Way back in 2000, Germany experienced a disastrous European Championship as the national side were knocked out in the group stage with a solitary point from...
It is perhaps a sign of both the times and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ statement of intent on joining the elite of English football, that they were able to sign...
In the January 2019 transfer window, Chelsea signed 20-year-old Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund before loaning him back to the German side to complete...
When Sir Alex Ferguson signed Robin Van Persie from Arsenal in the summer of 2012, there was a general feeling that he did so for two reasons. The first was in...
Mike Dean is a referee who polarises opinion. There are those who feel that Dean is an over-officious, attention-seeking, controversy-seeking, short little...
At the start of the current season, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ managing director Laurie Dalrymple made the bold statement that the club was not just coming...
In August 2017, Barcelona won the race to sign wonderkid Ousmane Dembélé for €105 million making him the joint-second most expensive player alongside Paul...
When Wales manager Ryan Giggs named his 25-man squad for the double-header against Denmark and Albania in November 2018, he included no less than four players...
Since bursting onto the scene in 2016 as a sixteen-year-old, Ryan Sessegnon’s progress, as well as his impact on the game, has been both startling and...