Do we have any world-class players?

[El Duderino]

Our last WC player was Auba. We've been spoiled over the years with the amount we've had of them.

Saka and Saliba are close, but still shy.

 

[Jasinho]

No, closest to it that we have is probably Saliba. Thereafter probably Saka and Ødegaard when they can be bothered to turn up.

 

[Henry boi]

No but only City and Liverpool have WC players even then the count is low. I only have Salah, Allison, Haaland KDB, Rodri and Bernardo Silva, maybe Ruben Dias and VVD but if you count them than surely Saliba is WC too.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

So let me get this right, The treble winners have multiple world-class players and the 5th-placed team have multiple world-class players but the team that got to 51 points in 19 games and ran the treble winners very close for the league have no world-class players.

Makes you think.

 

[Henry boi]

Yeah I’d say about, but Bellinghams been performing since Brum.

Saka been performing from the jump too

 

[Gooner Zig]

If we don't have any world class players then we have no business competing with City and Liverpool which means Mikel is doing an unbelievable job.

Or we do have WC players and we should be competing for the title and CL.

Which one is it guys?

 

[Farzad Stoned]

If we don't have any world class players then we have no business competing with City and Liverpool which means Mikel is doing an unbelievable job.

Or we do have WC players and we should be competing for the title and CL.

Which one is it guys?

Exactly. Post of the year! We are one of the most expensive teams in the world with a manager who has had years. Saka, Saliba, and Martinelli he inherited and cost us a total 35 million or so. Then look at transfer money and time; the only conclusion is that the manager is the bottleneck

 

[avenellroad]

Broadly speaking I’d class Saka and Saliba as world class. Probably Jesus, Ødegaard and Partey on their days too. Rice can also get there.

Martinelli is brilliant but still lacks some football nous at times. Could well be world class if he puts it together in the final third.

 

[Rasmi]

Only saka

 

[Paperino]

If we don't have any world class players then we have no business competing with City and Liverpool which means Mikel is doing an unbelievable job.

Or we do have WC players and we should be competing for the title and CL.

Which one is it guys?

Or you need to question the manager when his squad after 4 years have zero world class players.

 

[Bucephalus]

I mean, this is a silly question answered by whatever your definition of "world class" is. For me, it's a different phrase than "best in the world," so it has to mean something other than "would he get into a world XI?" Looking at a different sport, I would have no problem rating every Olympic 100m finalist a "world class" sprinter, regardless of whether they medalled (I might add in as a caveat you've got to have gone under 10.0 seconds at least once; I do sympathize with a previous poster who observed that the current state of strikers is such that he could only accept Kane and Haaland as world class, so maybe a single fluke final doesn't cut it).

Anyway, I would say Saliba definitely. He's in with a shout as best CB in the Premier League, no matter what his weird situation with France right now. If that doesn't qualify as world class, I don't know what does.

I would say Saka definitely. He's no worse than the second best RW in the Premier League, a lock for the England team, and you couldn't name five RW in the world better than him. And he always plays. If that doesn't qualify as world class, I don't know what does.

Rice (too soon to tell, and it's hard to judge DMs anyway), Partey (when healthy), and Ødegaard (except for those games he's inexplicably off) are close. Jesus is an interesting question. I don't think so, but Brazil--Brazil!--being desperate to play him when we think he's hurt says something about either Jesus or Brazil. Martinelli possibly in a year or two. Probably a personal bias on my part, but when Saka has a poor game, he seems so much more responsible with the ball, recycling it rather than dribbling into a dead end; Martinelli probably has a slightly higher any-given-game ceiling, but Saka has a much higher floor.

 

[Entropics]

If we don't have any world class players then we have no business competing with City and Liverpool which means Mikel is doing an unbelievable job.

Or we do have WC players and we should be competing for the title and CL.

Which one is it guys?

Neither

What you're seeing from posters not believing we have world class players doesn't come from any appreciation of the manager at all, it comes from knowing that even if they have world class quality, the utterly forgettable brand of football we deliver means none of them deserve such a label.

And in a way it's fully understandable, no world class player worth his salt would punish himself and the fans playing Artetaball. I defend Saka being world class because everyone really underappreciates the titanic effort that is making this midtable football look like it can compete, but would his name be a clear entry in the list of future greats when he allows himself to get burnt out for this? The answer is a clear no.

 

[Macho]

If we don't have any world class players then we have no business competing with City and Liverpool which means Mikel is doing an unbelievable job.

Or we do have WC players and we should be competing for the title and CL.

Which one is it guys?

How many teams in the league outside of City and Liverpool have world class players though? Son at Sp**s?

You need WC to win the league because of City, but you really don’t need any to finish 2-4th as we’ve seen Utd there very recently and just a lot of rotation in those spots in general.

This forum calls Rashford a purple patch merchant when he has two 17 (mostly non penalty) goal seasons to his name, but want to call our players world class it just doesn’t make sense

 

[LookingForEric]

Saka is a difficult one that is splitting a lot of people at the moment.

Nobody can deny he had a world class season last year but so did Ødegaard and Martinelli.

I think all 3 need to prove it wasn’t a one off and that they can be consistent at the highest level. All 3 also need to win us major trophies.

 

[Tnegs]

What happened to the good old days where a 6 month purple patch made you world class ala Song and Ramsey?

 

[Macho]

What happened to the good old days where a 6 month purple patch made you world class ala Song and Ramsey?

Those days never existed to be fair.

 

[Tnegs]

Those days never existed to be fair.

They sure did.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

What happened to the good old days where a 6 month purple patch made you world class ala Song and Ramsey?

What about the days when a few dinked throughballs to RvP made you a top DLP?

 

[DJ_Markstar]

Or you need to question the manager when his squad after 4 years have zero world class players.

And yet is still somehow challenging City for the title...again

 

[Macho]

They sure did.

I assure you they really didn’t

This is just a weird way to big up the current lot. Ramsey was always a divisive player even at his best and everyone shrugged when Song was sold to Barca.