World Class

[RumbleFox]

Kante (best in the world on his position)

Vardy

Mahrez

Lineker

Banks

Shilton

Cambiasso

Kane

Mancini

 

[AS78UK]

Wasn't Prime Ricky P struggling to get into ghe Portugal team as they had 2 better rightbacks? Or am I imagining that.   

[Corky]

53 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

Blows my mind it's 2026 and fans of his own club still haven't cottoned on to how good Vardy was. 

 

Vards, Kante and Mahrez were all comfortably world class footballers. 

 

Vardy from Ranieri leaving to Christmas 2019 was unbelievably good. His record with shots to goals was absurd. I think he scored 20 from 60 shots one year. 

 

He wasn't a silky player but had a lovely technique. Some of his assists were excellent, had great vision.

[Muzzy_no7]

Some very different views on what world class means on here.

 

Vardy was f***ing brilliant and is an absolute legend here.

 

Elite player.

 

If he made it to the top flight 5-6 years quicker than he did he would be a genuine challenger for Shearers record. 
 

Brings me to another point…was Shearer world class? 

[lfu]

43 minutes ago, Corky said:

Vardy from Ranieri leaving to Christmas 2019 was unbelievably good. His record with shots to goals was absurd. I think he scored 20 from 60 shots one year. 

 

He wasn't a silky player but had a lovely technique. Some of his assists were excellent, had great vision.

And somehow Puel wanted to freeze him out of the team

[Tommy G]

Mahrez was the best ever to pull on the  LCFC shirt. 
 

Vardy is emotionally my favourite ever player.

 

Both elite footballers 

[mazarron fox]

4 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Mahrez was the best ever to pull on the  LCFC shirt. 
 

Vardy is emotionally my favourite ever player.

 

Both elite footballers 

Sorry he was fantastic but Kante was better

[Kinowe Soorie]

To this day, Pontus Kamark is still one of the best footballer's, I’ve ever seen play for us.

[CornwallFox]

52 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Some very different views on what world class means on here.

 

Vardy was f***ing brilliant and is an absolute legend here.

 

Elite player.

 

If he made it to the top flight 5-6 years quicker than he did he would be a genuine challenger for Shearers record. 
 

Brings me to another point…was Shearer world class? 

Shearer was the best out and out striker on the planet. You could argue he didn't do enough with England I suppose, but then aside from one tournament we never really delivered. Shearer in the man utd team would've had another 200 goals. And it always annoys me they don't count his pre-prem goals when they talk about him on TV 

[SuperMike]

World class what?

 

Boubakery Soumaré.

A world class ****

[tinpot_fox]

10 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

Its big club syndrome, if Vardy moved to Arsenal he would have got way more recognition, and probably would also have replaced Kane as England #1.

 

10 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

At what he did.... Vardy WAS world class.  he wasn't a "complete" striker... But in terms of playing on the shoulder, running in behind, there were very very few better. 

 

Look at his shots to goal ratio, it's insane. 

 

all those other strikers mentioned played a different game. 

 

If Vardy had been at Utd, he would be seen as one of the PL Greats. 

 

10 hours ago, teblin said:

They should’ve found a way to play Kane and Vardy together. 

Vardy was 100% world class while he played for us, no question he gets picked or considered for any international team at the time. 
 

unfortunately apparently he was carrying an injury every time he got a chance to join England at a tournament. 
 

If we had an England manager who built a team around his abilities then England would have been a different beast. It’s pretty easy to think Kane and Vardy could have played in the same team. Kane positions closer to the midfield and can have a crack at goal from further out, whilst Vardy is always ready to make a run for a through ball. The Defense has two big goal threats to deal with, coming from different angles and positions.

[honeybradger]

2 hours ago, AS78UK said:

Wasn't Prime Ricky P struggling to get into ghe Portugal team as they had 2 better rightbacks? Or am I imagining that.   

Semedo was not better than Ricardo, he just had the benefit of playing for Barcelona. Cancelo maybe but he was also world class.

[Ormondroyd8ftTall]

8 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

World class, for me, is being in the top two in the world in your position at that current time.

 

When with us:

 

Kante? Yes, world class DM.

Mahrez? No, multiple players better at the time.

Vardy? No, same as above. 
 

Riccy P? For a brief period I’d say he was world class, brief. 
 

People suggesting Vardy and Mahrez clearly define world class more broadly.

I agree with you. For me world class is the very pinnacle of your position.

 

Just because I dont think vardy and mahrez reached world class doesnt mean I dont value them as amazing footballers or the outstanding achievements in there career. Players can also produce world class moments in a game, but needs to be sustainable to be said as a world class player for me

[Bert]

7 hours ago, Fox92 said:

Too early for me but Gary McAllister must have been excellent. He rarely seems to get mentioned but he won everything aside from a Champions League.

Yeah a Rolls Royce of a player. But certainly not world class. 

[AS78UK]

1 hour ago, honeybradger said:

Semedo was not better than Ricardo, he just had the benefit of playing for Barcelona. Cancelo maybe but he was also world class.

Cool.  Thanks for confirming 👍. 

[deejdeej]

3 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Brings me to another point…was Shearer world class? 

Definitely, one of the best goalscorers in my lifetime. Him, Batistuta, Ronaldo, Vieri, Del Piero, Raul all world class strikers in that generation imo. (Sure im missing a few around that time of France 98 especially, the standard of strikers back then was crazy)

[MaidstoneFox]

McLintock is a good shout, not just for 62-63 with us but winning the double with Arsenal. 

[Scotch]

The "world class" argument always annoys me because there is no single specific criteria for the term. 

 

For me, i envision building a squad from every player in the world, so 2 gks, 4 CBs, 4 fbs, 2 #6, 2 #8, 2 #10 2 strikers and 4 wingers.  

 

....others have different understanding of It.

[Foxin_Mad]

The comments here prove that Vardy did himself a disservice by being loyal. Even at Leicester he was world class, at a bigger club it wouldn’t even be a question. For me the fact he did it at Leicester and he stayed here makes him more world class, not being funny but none of the so called ‘world class’ strikers would have had the same impact that Vardy did here, no one. 

Edited 8 May by Foxin_Mad

[rugbyblue]

Kante definitely.

Mahrez definitely.

Id also say vardy was.  He didnt get enough of an opportunity for England but i judge it like this....he wasn't a striker that grabbed goals only against average and lower prem teams like some strikers do.  He got goals against the best teams in the country regularly and these top prem teams supposedly had some of the best defenders in the country.  So for me, yes, world class

[dmayne7]

5 hours ago, mazarron fox said:

Sorry he was fantastic but Kante was better

It's not even close. Despite his tantrums, I actually don't dislike Riyad and think he was arguably the best right winger in the world for a time. But Kante was an absolute freak of a player. Had he hit the mainstream a bit sooner and not suffered with lots of injuries in his last few PL, he'd go straight into the conversation for greatest midfielder of all time. He completely transformed 3 teams; Leicester, Chelsea and France. Only Messi/Ronaldo could compare in terms of impact in recent years, and those 2 are fairly decent players I guess.

[turtmcfly]

9 hours ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Mahrez, Kante, Vardy, Fofana, Ndidi (for a period), Ricardo (for a period), Kasper. Cambiasso was world class but debatable if he had those traits playing for us. 

 

Earlier periods Shilton, Banks, Lineker. 
 

World class is a tough one, very subjective. My thinking for what it’s worth, when that player was deemed world class, how many other teams would they play for/start for. 
 

Vardy for example when he was scoring for fun, every team in the PL would’ve loved to have him. In Europe probably only Real and Barca would’ve passed. The man is a world class goal scorer. 
 

Ndidi between 2018 - 2021 was one of the best DMs in the world. Consistently. 
 

 

 

Sticking Fofana (uncaveated!) in with those PL title winners is mental.

 

Read thru his thread on here. He had a handful of world class 90s, but also multiple stretches of being decidedly average for 2 or 3 games at a time.

 

Yes, he looked like Nijinsky (geezer or horse) had taken up football (struggling to think of a more aesthetically easy on the eye player) but that plus others' remonstrations about the level he would have reached (beyond world class?) had he not got injured (reader, he got injured) doesn't move the dial anywhere near enough.

 

 

[shen]

6 hours ago, CornwallFox said:

Shearer was the best out and out striker on the planet. You could argue he didn't do enough with England I suppose, but then aside from one tournament we never really delivered. Shearer in the man utd team would've had another 200 goals. And it always annoys me they don't count his pre-prem goals when they talk about him on TV 

Shearer was the best - in England*. But English football wasn't the best in the world at the time. The leagues in Germany, Italy and arguably Spain were all ahead, so I feel it makes 'best in the world' claim less credible.

 

Batistuta, Vieri, Klinsmann, Weah, Ronaldo, Romario, Shevchenko even Owen, all were equal or better IMO depending on which period/season you're looking at. 

[TonyN11]

Mahrez and Kante

That's it

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

In my time 

Lineker

Kante

Mahrez

Vardy