Robin Van Persie: EPL legend names his 6 all-time great footballers
- Robin van Persie excluded Brazilian football icon Pele in his six-man list of all-time best
- The Dutchman went for Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldo de Lima
- Van Persie is 12th highest goalscorer in the Premier League history with 144 goals spanning his stints at Man United and Arsenal
Robin van Persie wisely steered a middle course when dabbling into the greatest-of-all-time discussion by choosing six players as the best instead of one.
The Dutchman had a long stint in the Premier League both in Arsenal and Manchester United, netting impressive 144 goals and ranked 12th highest goalscorer of all time in the English league.
Swinging the pendulum back on his football career, Van Persie was asked who the greatest of all time is and he chose to exclude himself when naming some quite familiar names of his generation.
“Cruyff, Maradona, Zidane, Messi and (both) Ronaldos,” the former Dutch international said.
The debate of who the best player of all time is has always polarised the football fraternity with all camps throwing their supports behind their respective heroes.
But recently, the debate has effectually been narrowed between Lionel Messi and his greatest arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Both players shared eleven Ballon d'Or gongs between themselves when their rivalry was heavily pronounced in La Liga.
Although the Argentine is a step ahead of the Portuguese footie on the Ballon d'Or award list, a section of fans holds the belief that Ronaldo is the most complete player and best in terms of laurels in the world.
Their argument is also based on the ground that the 34-year-old striker has successfully implanted his legacies in four different clubs across Europe whereas Messi is at his comfort zone in Spain.
And van Persie might have avoided incurring the wrath of football fans when he named the two players in his six-man list.
Zidane and (Brazilian) Ronaldo won two Ballon d'Or awards each, while Maradona led the greatest generation of football in history.
Dutch legend Johan Cyruff won the Ballon d'Or gong three times, in 1971, 1973, and 1974, and there is a discussion that he is also one of the best players to ever grace the football game.
Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh had reported that Cristiano Ronaldo has overtaken Gerd Muller on the top goalscorers in the football history list, with the Portuguese beating the Germany legend to the fifth position after his goal-scoring run for Juventus.
Ronaldo's outstanding brilliance was brought into the discussion again after he singlehandedly inspired Juventus to a comfortable yet narrow 2-1 victory over Parma at the Allianz Stadium last weekend.
Source: YEN.com.gh
