Favourite foreign players of all-time?

[Omar Devone Little]

Ronaldo for me. Had the Barcelona kit with his name on as a kid and was obsessed with him. Used to try and mimic his stepovers on the playground. There's never been a more complete striker in the game for me than Ronaldo 96-98. He was brilliant from 02-05 too for Real Madrid but had had to adapt his game a bit more to compensate for the massive knee injuries.

Part of the mystique around these players then was not seeing them all the time too. You might catch the odd Barcelona/Inter game on telly but it wasn't every week and there was obviously no youtube highlights then.

Then he also has the Hollywood-style redemption story at the World Cup.

Il fenomeno

 

[Eddie Yates]

Johnny Metgod

 

[EssexReds]

Marco Van Basten, again the mystique of not seeing them play all the time. Amazing goals record for Ajax, Milan, and the brilliant Euros in 1988, what a goal in a final.

 

[valspoodle]

Ferenc Puskas

 

[PynchonForest]

This guy. His application within a team wasn't always well integrated, but his skill level was absolutely ridiculous. There was a game in Copa America years ago between Brazil and Paraguay and he absolutely destroyed Paraguay's right back. Behind him there are a few other Brazilians (Ronaldinho, Ronadlo, Garrincha). The original poster named Riquelme---when he was at Villareal entire games were dictated from his midfield position--clinics on how to run a team from the center of the park. So props to the original poster.