Your favourite non-Boro player of all-time, with one caveat

atypical_boro said:
I am fascinated by Diego (Maradona, not the fmttm poster, who is also a great lad btw). But the thing is no one really saw him play outside World Cups, Serie A wasn’t on UK TV in the 80s. Same goes for Pele, who most people really only saw in one Word Cup.

So I think it’s easier to build a “rapport” with players who played in England (pre-90s) like George Best, or foreign players who played in the post-90s era where La Liga and Serie A were broadcast live.

Not a single German or Italian mentioned on this thread, mind. I should give an honourable mention to Beppe Signori.
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Thought I was one of your favourite players for a second there
 
FabioPorkpie said:
Batistuta was an iconic force of nature back in the days of Gazetta football.
He wasn’t the best player, but he was my favourite. The hair, the power, the purple Nintendo shirt, the absolute belters 😍
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I would say he was probably the best striker in Serie A in the 90s? Van Basten had sort of peaked, and I always thought George Weah was a bit overrated....?

The way Batistuta stuck with La Viola was admirable too.
 
atypical_boro said:
You're not allowed to say Messi. Because that's just boring.

One much smaller caveat, they can't EVER have played for or managed Boro, so no 'Gazza when he was at Spurs', Big Jack, or 'Nobby Stiles at United' (boomers take note ;)).

For me, Ronaldinho hands down. Never had as much joy watching any player on telly as him. I used to set alarms on my phone to watch Barca when he was there (which I never did for Messi).

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If you can't say Messi(and why would I) I'll pick the best player I have ever seen Pele.
 
Smoggle said:
Always had a soft spot for Iván de la Peña, I had his replica Barcelona and Lazio tops and followed his career closely as a kid. He was heavily linked with the barcodes under Bobby Robson so very happy that never happened.
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Bobby had him at Barca too. Amazingly never capped until he was 29 though.
 
MichaelDebeve said:
Serie A in the 90's was brilliant - I have complete nostalgia for that period in Italy as a kid loving footy
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Me too, didn't have Sky in the 90s. I have the fondest memories of watching Gazzetta on a Saturday morning, then Focus, then going to the match, coming home to watch MOTD. Then Sundays were all about Football Italia Live, I would watch it no matter who was playing (though we would go to my Nana's house and watch the big PL match on Sky sometimes too).

I sort of miss the days of Serie A being better than the PL.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
That Arsenal team from around 1997 to 2005ish was just ridiculous. I maintain that watching that team taught me to respect the quality of the opposition and to enjoy the game as a spectacle. I’d been getting quite angry at Boro matches as a 14, 15, 16 year old and thought the refs were all corrupt, the opposition were cheats all conning Boro out of points and wins and that we were the possibly best team around if only things weren’t rigged against us.
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Completely agree with this, I was exactly the same.
 
Francesco Totti.

Think he was breaking through as a serie A wonderkid (covered on the football italia on C4) just as I was getting into footy and until recently had been in the game ever since. Like he's been an ever present in my footballing consciousness.

Plus obviously a cracking player who loved a chipped finish, which for my money is the highest form of finishing, and he was a one club man which I respect.

Gutted never got to see him in the flesh when we played Roma.

 
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