Who is the most overrated player in Europe?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is rumoured to be the highest-paid player in European football. So he must be good. His team, Inter Milan, rewrote the Italian record books last season and are runaway leaders again this year. So he must be good. His style has been described as half-ballerina, half-gangster and leading coaches queue up to endorse his brilliance. So he must be good.

Yet how many are still waiting to see him have a good game?

It is not just me because I have asked around. Clearly, I have been unlucky, but so have many others.

Last week, again, we waited in vain for Ibrahimovic to shine in the Champions League tie against Liverpool at the San Siro and all we saw was the pouting prima donna who had one chance and blew it, turned a couple of nice tricks, but when the game was going Liverpool’s way reacted only with gestures of frustration. Fernando Torres was a different class.

Ibrahimovic was at Juventus before this and I never saw it there, either. I know I am missing something. I feel the same about Raúl. I have seen him look good on a night when Real Madrid have looked good, but I’ve never seen him look great on a night when the team have been misfiring, never seen him pull his team to victory in the manner of Zinédine Zidane, or even Steven Gerrard.

Every football fan has blind spots. The great player who always seemed overrated. The legend you thought was a myth. Who is yours?

Comments

[globocitizen]

over-rated: Drogba, Carragher,Gerrard, Thierry Henry

under-rated: Hargreaves, Gilberto,

[Nogbad T. Bad]

Going back a few years I would also nominate Toto Scilacci as the most overrated player of all time. He was NEVER, EVER, EVER on-side and must have cost Juventus 20 goals a season by interfering with a good goal from an offside position. Like Milan Baros he fooled people into thinking he was good in a tournament but was actually rubbish.

[kevin Simons]

Overrated I'll take Ronaldinho. His control over the ball has never been that great, and he's not especially good in the hole or on dead balls. He's fine, of course, but nowhere near what he's made out to be. He had a terrible World Cup, and he's been mixed in La Liga since. He does amazing tricks but he gives the ball away very cheaply. There are better players on Barcelona, in spite of their recent results. Underrated I'll take Iniesta. No one mentions this kid but he's great. He fights like mad for the ball, defends like a star, keeps his feet, never looks to the referee for help, he's got great vision as a passer and he can score some vital goals. Sir Bobby came away singing his praises after a CL semi-final two years ago, and he'd never even heard of him beforehand.

[Akinola Jordan]

First things first. Why would anyone talk of a person they don't know. Yes he scored 5 goals this season but Kenwyne Jones is not the most overrated player in the world, if you would watch any of his games and see the impact he has had on Sunderland FC you would be quite different in your words.

He is not a cristiano or a kaka' but he is world class. His work rate is exceptional, his speed on and off the ball is blistering, he can shoot very accurately with both feet and he can header the ball proficiently so how can you say he is overrated, if he was at a quality club such as manchester united or AC Milan you would see how talented he is.

But the most overrated players are John Terry, Frank Lampard, the whole Arsenal side, Steven Gerrard and Didier Drogba.

[You've been framed]

Has anyone heard of Wayne Grace? He is a 30-year-old striker for Team Redbridge, he has the best moves and tricks available and he loves shooting from far distances, really far distances.

He has a scoring record of 3 own goals in a 45 minute warm up game.

He is fast, has great control with his flash white trainers and his grey socks.

Football is his life and being not very good at it is his speciality.

Forget Ronaldo, Rooney etc Wayne Grace is God's gift to football.

[finkfankfunk]

As has been alluded to by others, "overrated" depends on what you expect from a player in the first place. Quite a few pundits in Italy rank Ibrahimovic as one of the greatest players EVER - and his extraordinary new salary is a reflection of how highly he is valued. In my opinion he is clearly not one of the best ever but he is still an excellent player that any sensible coach (or fan that has watched him play more than the odd game) would want to have in his team.

I think the problem with rating Ibrahimovic is that he is so unlike any other player. He is certainly not an outright goal scorer and you can't use the same yardstick to measure Ibrahimovic and say, Inzaghi. Inzaghi scores goals, but that is "all" he does. He does not get any assists, does not win the ball in the air, does not create space for the midfield or other forwards etc.

Ibrahimovic is probably best described as a hybrid between a "trequartista" and a forward. His stats are revealing: he is tied second top scorer in the Serie A and also has 5 goals in the CL. He is also the player with the most assists in Serie A this season (not sure about CL, although his threaded ball to Cruz against Liverpool is probably indicative that he has notched up a few in that department too).

More importantly however is the physical presence that he brings to inter and his unpredictability. This unpredictability is also his Achilles heel - both in terms of his mood and what he will do with the ball. This means he gets an enormous amount of attention from opposition defenders who often try to neutralize him by double-marking him, trying to get him to react etc. This in turn eases the pressure on team mates. The problem is everyone knows what he CAN do and if he fails to live up to that enormous expectation (as he did against Liverpool) he will be slated. Btw, lest anyone should forget, Zlatan ensured Sweden went through the group phase in Euro 2004 with an outrageous backheel goal against italy.

An alternative way of rating someone is looking how much a club paid for them and seeing what the club has gotten in return. If we use that yardstick, the most overrated player is surely Spurs' Bent!

[Eat Thompson Truth]

Francis Murray. He Rubbish!!!!

[Lex]

Okay I am so happy I am not the only one who thinks the most overrated players are

1) Cristiano Ronaldo
2) Thierry Henry
3) Wayne Rooney/John Terry

the reasons here have been so eloquently put by others that i refuse to repeat myself except to say when I watched England Vs Switz at Wembley- Wayne Rooney played abysmally and then everyone gave him a standing ovation (except me, of course).

this is what's wrong with the press/fans and players - if you give them a standing ovation for playing like some pouty sulky kid - how on earth can they improve.

[Frankers]

Clarence Seedorf. It may seem churlish to say that a man who has won the UEFA Champions League four times and with three different clubs is overrated, but I sincerely believe he is. Without doubt he has some lovely ball skills, but he is slow and I have never seen him dominate a big European game and, for me, he too often takes the easy option in possession.

Darren Anderton. Rarely played and when he did, was lightweight, lazy and pretty ineffective in possession. Playing him was Venables' only mistake during Euro 1996.

Michael Owen. Some wonder goals but no front man can be world class if they can't hold the ball up, head, have the strength to hold off defenders nor a left foot to speak off.

On Martin's point, I watch precious little Italian football nowadays but I have never seen Ibrahimovic excel on international or Champions League duty. But I have most definitely seen Scholes!

[Ivan]

I question when people comment on footballers they have only seen play a few times and expect that the few times they have seen them play for them to be spectacular.

Ibra is perhaps overrated if you place him among the best three footballers in the world, on talent he is probably among the best three however he hasn't preformed at his peak in the big games. It is no coincidence that he has won titles at Ajax, Juventus and Inter, his goal scoring record is also very good. I didn't think his 2nd leg performance against Liverpool was that poor. The only moment of note from Ibrahimovic that i remember at world/european stage was that phenomenal goal he scored for Sweden against Italy at the Euros. He is almost at his peak and i agree we expect more from him.

People have said Pirlo is underrated, i dont think so. I think people give him due respect. At times he can be horrible as i have witnessed many a time in serie a and in UCL especially this season. However when on form he is the best deliverer of a football in the world.

And to those who have said Ronaldinho is overrated, perhaps there is a side of truth i.e. comparisons with legends, but make no mistake he was the best player in the world for two years running.

I find bringing up Titus Bramble absolutely hilarious. Who doesn't know this guy is rubbish?

[Jim]

Overrated- John Terry - overhyped and simply not good enough to be England captain.
Ashley Cole - Wayne Bridge is far better.
Raul - brilliant on occasions...but lives on past glories
Ibrahimovic - this guy is way too overhyped...what has he done?
Robben - Came with a frightning reputation but is a one-trick pony.

[Frank]

Raul, Ryan Giggs, Deco, Stewart Downing. Any young Argentinian who looks like Maradona.

How can anybody mention Titus Bramble ? There isn't anybody who thinks he's good so he can't be overrated.

[Nogbad T. Bad]

Jamie Carragher for me. Couldn't hold down a position for years, scratching about at full back or as the world's slowest midfielder, then, when Henchoz vacates the centre half position in he comes as the "anchor" of LFC's spine. When he found he was only usefull to England as an emergency utility filler-in, he threw a huge hissy-fit and withdrew his services.

Another name for the debate : Sergei Rebrov

[Xander Terra]

Ibrahimovic - Everyone bangs on about how prolific he is in Serie A yet he seldom scores against any of the top sides in Italy, it's always teams in the lower half of the table.

Anton Ferdinand - He actually thinks he is his brother and whereas I don't rate Rio as a great his brother is just rubbish.

[k]

carrick is the most underrated player and so is j cole.

[Sash]

Darren Fletcher
Absolutely useless

[Roop]

Tevez is overrated from what I have seen so far. He seems to be heavily reliant on service from midfield.

Diego of Werder Bremen is also very overrated. He had the chance to prove himself at the recent Copa America - where Brazil were without the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho - and he choked big time. It was very embarrassing.

[Amrit]

Haha any player that's English, or plays for England (which can be two separate things in this day and age). It's because of your media, overhyping anything that steps on to a sporting arena (witness, Andy Murray, Lewis Hamilton, Andrew Flintoff, and most importantly - David Beckham).

[Kieran Murrray]

Rooney's got to be up there if we're talking about Europe's most overrated. While he was good in his Everton days he has been in decline for the last few years, outshined by his team mates in every game. While his work ethic can not be questioned his lack of skill and fitness must.

[curtis sagwete]

I'll have to say that going through people's posts, it's quite obvious that people do not watch football. otherwise names such as:
Gerrad
Pirlo
Raul
Zidane
would be no where near this article.

Ibrahimovich is overrated...and I live in Sweden, so you can understand how sick i get when they praise him. He is extremely gifted, and extrememly technical for a big man, however he doesnt score often enough, tho u cant judge him only on that. But here are his stats in the league this season: 15 goals, 8 penalties hahahahaha. great scorer indeed.

Torres has scored 20 in the league and doesn't take penalties.

[Craig Pedersen]

Wayne ROONEY!

He does not score goals. He runs here. He runs there. He steps on opposing players. He makes faces. He does not score goals. He runs here. He runs there.

A waste,

[Neil McCole]

Overrated? where do I start? how about:

David Beckham - Can't head the ball, no left foot, painfully slow, very rarely scores from play, can't tackle, can't dribble... came second in the world player of the year! I'll never understand it.

Seriously though, Manchester United always seem to be nurturing at least one heavily over-hyped player.

Young Ryan Giggs - do you remember him, George Best wasn't fit to clean his boots. It all went quiet when Beckham arrived. Now the guy is a model pro, and has had many the fine game, but world beater? not for me.

Eric Cantona - A good player who played in the English top flight when the standard of football was probably at its lowest in 30 years. Never did it in Europe. Hated in France. Never wanted by international managers. Never linked with top European clubs. Average scoring record. Idolised as some sort of misunderstood genius. In reality he was a big fish in a small stagnant pond.

[Chris]

If anything Scholes is underrated. His vision, passing and composure on the ball is 2nd to none. Just because he doesn't have a big personality and stays away from the media he is often overlooked. Will Gerrad and Lampard be performing at his level once they reach his age?

[Ed Ross]

i can take the rest... but the guy that said the best Englishman to play for us in at least the last 30 years was overrated is a little far, regardless of his shambles of a private life.

[Stevo]

Ibrahimovic is definitely up there with the most overrated players in the world (although he was at one point a great player when he was at Ajax, as he proved with that wonder goal he scored many years ago).

He was really poor against Liverpool and i've yet to see him perform against one of the top teams. However, surely the most overrated player in the word is Andrea Pirlo!!

Ibrahimovic doesn't get anywhere near as much praise as Pirlo who continues to surprise me with his lack of contribution to games. An image has been created about Pirlo that he is a sensational midfielder who can pass the ball better than any other and without him the AC Milan and Italy teams would simply not function properly. This is very wrong, i mean he's a decent passer of the ball and he can whip in a pretty good cross but he doesn't offer much in an attacking sense. The top midfielders in the world are the likes of Fabregas, Gerrard and Essien all of whom are of a much higher standard than Pirlo.