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Rovers best Foreign 18


glen9mullan

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I have been thinking of writing a blog over the last week regarding the best foreign players to have played for Rovers, after seeing some of the crazy amount of money being spent in World football at present.

If you could pick an 18 from this lot, who would it be?

It does not have to be based on their achievements at Rovers, but their overall career achievements.

Of these in today's market who would cost the most?

Some of these players obviously never really got a game at Rovers, but this is a comprehensive list of the foreign players to be under contract at Rovers, how many of these do you remember?

 

Lorenzo Amoruso

 

Italy

Defender

28/06/1971

Anders Andersson

 

Sweden

Midfielder

15/03/1974

Patrik Andersson

 

Sweden

Defender

18/08/1971

Martin Andresen

 

Norway

Midfielder

02/02/1977

Osvaldo Ardiles

 

Argentina

Midfielder

03/08/1952

Benny Arentoft

 

Denmark

Midfielder

01/11/1942

Yakubu Ayegbeni

 

Nigeria

Forward

22/11/1982

B

Markus Babbel

 

Germany

Defender

08/09/1972

Dino Baggio

 

Italy

Midfielder

24/07/1971

Modou Barrow

 

Gambia

Forward

13/10/1992

Yıldıray Baştürk

 

Turkey

Midfielder

24/12/1978

Benjani

 

Zimbabwe

Forward

13/08/1978

Henning Berg

 

Norway

Defender

01/09/1969

Eyal Berkovic

 

Israel

Midfielder

02/04/1972

Bruno Berner

 

Switzerland

Defender

21/11/1977

Stig Inge Bjørnebye

 

Norway

Defender

11/12/1969

Lars Bohinen

 

Norway

Midfielder

08/09/1969

Bruno Ribeiro

 

Brazil

Defender

01/04/1983

Pascal Chimbonda

 

France

Defender

21/02/1979

D

Bryan Dabo

 

France

Midfielder

18/02/1992

Martin Dahlin

 

Sweden

Forward

16/04/1968

 

 

 

 

 

Neil Danns

 

Guyana

Midfielder

23/11/1982

David Raya

 

Spain

Goalkeeper

15/09/1995

De Pedro

 

Spain

Midfielder

04/08/1973

Franco Di Santo

 

Argentina

Forward

07/04/1989

Kaba Diawara

 

Guinea

Forward

16/12/1975

 

 

 

 

 

Diogo Rosado

 

Portugal

Midfielder

21/02/1990

El-Hadji Diouf

 

Senegal

Forward

15/01/1981

Mame Diouf

 

Senegal

Forward

16/12/1987

Youri Djorkaeff

 

France

Midfielder

09/03/1968

Georgios Donis

 

Greece

Midfielder

29/10/1969

Edinho Júnior

 

Portugal

Forward

07/03/1994

Brett Emerton

 

Australia

Midfielder

22/02/1979

Marvin Emnes

 

Netherlands

Forward

27/05/1988

Peter Enckelman

 

Finland

Goalkeeper

10/03/1977

Dickson Etuhu

 

Nigeria

Midfielder

08/06/1982

F

Fábio Nunes

 

Portugal

Forward

24/07/1992

Roy Faulkner

 

Canada

Defender

05/08/1897

John Filan

 

Australia

Goalkeeper

08/02/1970

Per Frandsen

 

Denmark

Midfielder

06/02/1970

Brad Friedel

 

USA

Goalkeeper

18/05/1971

G

Rudy Gestede

 

Benin

Forward

10/10/1988

Gaël Givet

 

France

Defender

09/10/1981

Hérold Goulon

 

France

Midfielder

12/06/1988

Corrado Grabbi

 

Italy

Forward

29/07/1975

Vince Grella

 

Australia

Midfielder

05/10/1979

Vratislav Greško

 

Slovakia

Midfielder

24/07/1977

Rostyn Griffiths

 

Australia

Midfielder

10/03/1988

Niklas Gudmundsson

 

Sweden

Midfielder

29/02/1972

Stéphane Henchoz

 

Switzerland

Defender

07/09/1974

Doneil Henry

 

Canada

Defender

20/04/1993

Junior Hoilett

 

Canada

Midfielder

05/06/1990

Hugo

 

Spain

Defender

30/11/1993

J

Simeon Jackson

 

Canada

Forward

28/03/1987

Lars Jacobsen

 

Denmark

Defender

20/09/1979

Nils-Eric Johansson

 

Sweden

Defender

13/01/1980

Jemal Johnson

 

USA

Midfielder

03/05/1985

Jermaine Jones

 

USA

Midfielder

03/11/1981

Jordi Gómez

 

Spain

Midfielder

24/05/1985

José Dominguez

 

Portugal

Midfielder

16/02/1974

K

Nikola Kalinić

 

Croatia

Forward

05/01/1988

Colin Kâzım-Richards

 

Turkey

Midfielder

26/08/1986

Marc Keller

 

France

Forward

14/01/1968

Tugay Kerimoğlu

 

Turkey

Midfielder

24/08/1970

Zurab Khizanishvili

 

Georgia

Defender

06/10/1981

Joshua King

 

Norway

Forward

15/01/1992

Bengali-Fodé Koita

 

France

Forward

21/10/1990

Oumar Kondé

 

Switzerland

Defender

19/08/1979

Shefki Kuqi

 

Finland

Forward

10/11/1976

L

Amine Linganzi

 

Algeria

Midfielder

16/11/1989

Lucas

 

Angola

Forward

04/09/1993

M

Dario Marcolin

 

Italy

Midfielder

28/10/1971

Benny McCarthy

 

South Africa

Forward

12/11/1977

Míchel Salgado

 

Spain

Defender

22/10/1975

Anthony Modeste

 

France

Forward

14/04/1988

Aaron Mokoena

 

South Africa

Defender

25/11/1980

N

Steven N'Zonzi

 

France

Midfielder

15/12/1988

Lucas Neill

 

Australia

Defender

09/03/1978

Ryan Nelsen

 

New Zealand

Defender

18/10/1977

Shabani Nonda

 

Congo DR

Forward

06/03/1977

Nuno Gomes

 

Portugal

Forward

05/07/1976

Nuno Henrique

 

Portugal

Defender

19/10/1986

O

Marcus Olsson

 

Sweden

Midfielder

17/05/1988

Martin Olsson

 

Sweden

Defender

17/05/1988

André Ooijer

 

Netherlands

Defender

11/07/1974

Egil Østenstad

 

Norway

Forward

02/01/1972

P

Paulo Jorge

 

Portugal

Midfielder

18/01/1993

Tim Payne

 

New Zealand

Forward

10/01/1994

Morten Pedersen

 

Norway

Midfielder

08/09/1981

Per Pedersen

 

Denmark

Forward

30/03/1969

Tore Pedersen

 

Norway

Defender

29/09/1969

Sebastian Pelzer

 

Germany

Defender

24/09/1980

Sébastien Pérez

 

France

Defender

24/11/1973

Sergio Peter

 

Germany

Midfielder

12/10/1986

Radosav Petrović

 

Serbia

Midfielder

08/03/1989

Sacha Petshi

 

France

Midfielder

21/06/1992

Karim Rekik

 

Netherlands

Defender

02/12/1994

Maceo Rigters

 

Netherlands

Forward

22/01/1984

Jason Roberts

 

Grenada

Forward

25/01/1978

John Roberts

 

Australia

Goalkeeper

24/03/1944

Rubén Rochina

 

Spain

Forward

23/03/1991

S

Christopher Samba

 

Congo

Defender

28/03/1984

Martin Samuelsen

 

Norway

Midfielder

17/04/1997

Grzegorz Sandomierski

 

Poland

Goalkeeper

05/09/1989

Roque Santa Cruz

 

Paraguay

Forward

16/08/1981

Florent Sinama-Pongolle

 

France

Forward

20/10/1984

Robbie Slater

 

Australia

Midfielder

22/11/1964

Yann Songo'o

 

Cameroon

Defender

17/11/1991

Hakan Şükür

 

Turkey

Forward

01/09/1971

Frank Talia

 

Australia

Goalkeeper

20/07/1972

Aaron Tumwa

 

Antigua & Barbuda

Midfielder

27/09/1993

U

Hakan Ünsal

 

Turkey

Defender

14/05/1973

Sebastian Usai

 

Australia

Goalkeeper

28/02/1990

V

Patrick Valéry

 

France

Defender

03/07/1969

Elrio van Heerden

 

South Africa

Midfielder

11/07/1983

Carlos Villanueva

 

Chile

Forward

05/02/1986

Johann Vogel

 

Switzerland

Midfielder

08/03/1977

Simon Vukčević

 

Montenegro

Midfielder

29/01/1986

W

Roy Wegerle

 

USA

Forward

19/03/1964

Lee Williamson

 

Jamaica

Midfielder

07/06/1982

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Witschge

 

Netherlands

Midfielder

20/09/1969

Y

David Yelldell

 

USA

Goalkeeper

01/10/1981

Yordi

 

Spain

Forward

14/09/1974

Dwight Yorke

 

Trinidad & Tobago

Forward

03/11/1971

 

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Tough call as so many names, but if I was to base it on who I thought played best for us during my time, and I am old enough to remember Ossie Ardiles wearing the blue and white halves, I would go with the following:

Brad Friedel USA Goalkeeper 1
Henning Berg Norway Defender 2
Gaël Givet France Defender 3
Christopher Samba Congo Defender 4
Ryan Nelsen New Zealand Defender 5
Tugay Kerimoğlu Turkey Midfielder 6
Brett Emerton Australia Midfielder 7
Steven N'Zonzi France Midfielder 8
Morten Pedersen Norway Midfielder 11
Benny McCarthy South Africa Forward 9
Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay Forward 10

Funny that most of them are from the Souness/Hughes era which outside of the Dalglish era is the best we have had it that I can remember, and Kenny's team was very British, as were most of the top teams.

I had a soft spot for one or two of the payers that didn't make it in my starting 11, obvious ones like Salgado, but maybe not so obvious Berkovic and Bohinen, who I thought were superb for us, and Jermaine Jones who I thought should have gone on to be a top player, and one from back in the day, Roy Wegerle who I really enjoyed watching in a Rovers shirt

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1 hour ago, The Gull said:

Tough call as so many names, but if I was to base it on who I thought played best for us during my time, and I am old enough to remember Ossie Ardiles wearing the blue and white halves, I would go with the following:

Brad Friedel USA Goalkeeper 1
Henning Berg Norway Defender 2
Gaël Givet France Defender 3
Christopher Samba Congo Defender 4
Ryan Nelsen New Zealand Defender 5
Tugay Kerimoğlu Turkey Midfielder 6
Brett Emerton Australia Midfielder 7
Steven N'Zonzi France Midfielder 8
Morten Pedersen Norway Midfielder 11
Benny McCarthy South Africa Forward 9
Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay Forward 10

Funny that most of them are from the Souness/Hughes era which outside of the Dalglish era is the best we have had it that I can remember, and Kenny's team was very British, as were most of the top teams.

I had a soft spot for one or two of the payers that didn't make it in my starting 11, obvious ones like Salgado, but maybe not so obvious Berkovic and Bohinen, who I thought were superb for us, and Jermaine Jones who I thought should have gone on to be a top player, and one from back in the day, Roy Wegerle who I really enjoyed watching in a Rovers shirt

Some team that. Wonder how they'd get on today.

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Good thread.

Agree with most of the line up posted by The Gull. Might just give Lars Bohinen the nod over N'Zonzi.loved watching Bohinen.

 

Also had a soft spot for Vratty Gresko at left back so would start him ton.  He had a shaky start to his time at Rovers and had just started showing his worth when (I think) Leeds' Danny Mills crunched him and he was never the same from memory.

 

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3 hours ago, The Gull said:

Tough call as so many names, but if I was to base it on who I thought played best for us during my time, and I am old enough to remember Ossie Ardiles wearing the blue and white halves, I would go with the following:

Brad Friedel USA Goalkeeper 1
Henning Berg Norway Defender 2
Gaël Givet France Defender 3
Christopher Samba Congo Defender 4
Ryan Nelsen New Zealand Defender 5
Tugay Kerimoğlu Turkey Midfielder 6
Brett Emerton Australia Midfielder 7
Steven N'Zonzi France Midfielder 8
Morten Pedersen Norway Midfielder 11
Benny McCarthy South Africa Forward 9
Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay Forward 10

Funny that most of them are from the Souness/Hughes era which outside of the Dalglish era is the best we have had it that I can remember, and Kenny's team was very British, as were most of the top teams.

I had a soft spot for one or two of the payers that didn't make it in my starting 11, obvious ones like Salgado, but maybe not so obvious Berkovic and Bohinen, who I thought were superb for us, and Jermaine Jones who I thought should have gone on to be a top player, and one from back in the day, Roy Wegerle who I really enjoyed watching in a Rovers shirt

I'd put Jermaine Jones in place of N'Zonzi just to put more bite in midfield, but that is otherwise a great team. Also Duff in place of Pedersen (as highlighted by Bigdoggsteel above). Don't forget the subs!

Ooijer, Martin Olsson, N'Zonzi, Wegerle, Pedersen, Yorke, Kuqi.

Tell you what, we're spoilt for choice at cb with Amoruso and Zurab also very tidy options!

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Very good thread indeed!

GK: Brad Friedel

RB: Michel Salgado

CB: Henning Berg

CB: Chris Samba

LB: Gael Givet

RM: Brett Emerton

CM: Tugay

CM: Jermaine Jones

LM: Morten Gamst Pedersen

CF: Roque Santa Cruz

CF: Benni McCarthy

Subs:

John Filan,  Andre Ooijer, Martin Olsson, Steven N'Zonzi, Ryan Nelsen, Yakubu, Nuno Gomes.

I suspect there may be some curve balls amongst the subs especially, but these were my favourite foreign players I saw in the time playing for us.

P.S.- As Bigdoggsteel rightly observed, I'm assuming players from the ROI are excluded from this? otherwise Duff would have been a shoo-in at LM.

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25 minutes ago, Mike E said:

I'd put Jermaine Jones in place of N'Zonzi just to put more bite in midfield, but that is otherwise a great team. Also Duff in place of Pedersen (as highlighted by Bigdoggsteel above). Don't forget the subs!

Ooijer, Martin Olsson, N'Zonzi, Wegerle, Pedersen, Yorke, Kuqi.

Tell you what, we're spoilt for choice at cb with Amoruso and Zurab also very tidy options!

Rumour has it there's still a divot in the pitch from where Kuqi landed. Almost brought the Riverside down.

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Great thread!

Can't argue too much with The Gull's choices really, but if I were to pick an 18 based on them at the peak of their careers rather than how they played for us, it might look something like this (ignoring formations/tactics to an extent as you would end up leaving dead certs out or shoehorning people into unusual positions):

 

Brad Friedel G 

Henning Berg D 

Michel Salgado D

Andre Ooijer D 

Ryan Nelsen D (Captain) 

Tugay Kerimoğlu M

Osvaldo Ardiles M

Jermaine Jones M

Youri Djorkaeff M

Benny McCarthy F

Roque Santa Cruz F

Subs: John Filan G, Christopher Samba D, Patrick Andersson D, Morten Pedersen M, Steven N'Zonzi M, Nuno Gomes F, Dino Baggio M.

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If taking contributions mainly for rovers I'd go (wouldn't necessarily work as a team):

Brad friedel

Berg

Henchoz

Samba

Nelsen

Tugay

Duff

Pedersen

Emerton 

Santa cruz 

Benni

 

Given

Givet

Salgado

Ooijer 

N'zonzi

Jones

Reid

Yakubu

If talking overall career achievements (ie better stuff elsewhere) likes of baggio, yorke, dahlin, djorkaeff, Andersson, kalinic

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1 minute ago, roverandout said:

For me zidane and dugarry. Oh hang on uncle jack said we didnt need zidane because we had sherwood

Yeah if players we've been closely linked with with Christ we'd be able to assemble one hell of a squad. Lewandowski, Keane...

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I'm only 21 so this line up is gunna have too be post 2000 really so.....         GK- Friedel RB- Givet CB- Nelsen CB- Samba LB- Salgado (Can't leave him or Givet out) RM- Emerton CM's- Tugay + J.Jones LM- Morten St's- Benni and Roque.                                                 Subs: El Hadj Diouf, Di Santo Kuqi, Neill, Chimbonda, Yakubu, Nzonzi...... Can't leave Di Santo or Chimbonda out purely for them goals against the Dingles!

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5 hours ago, The Gull said:

Tough call as so many names, but if I was to base it on who I thought played best for us during my time, and I am old enough to remember Ossie Ardiles wearing the blue and white halves, I would go with the following:

Brad Friedel USA Goalkeeper 1
Henning Berg Norway Defender 2
Gaël Givet France Defender 3
Christopher Samba Congo Defender 4
Ryan Nelsen New Zealand Defender 5
Tugay Kerimoğlu Turkey Midfielder 6
Brett Emerton Australia Midfielder 7
Steven N'Zonzi France Midfielder 8
Morten Pedersen Norway Midfielder 11
Benny McCarthy South Africa Forward 9
Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay Forward 10

Funny that most of them are from the Souness/Hughes era which outside of the Dalglish era is the best we have had it that I can remember, and Kenny's team was very British, as were most of the top teams.

I had a soft spot for one or two of the payers that didn't make it in my starting 11, obvious ones like Salgado, but maybe not so obvious Berkovic and Bohinen, who I thought were superb for us, and Jermaine Jones who I thought should have gone on to be a top player, and one from back in the day, Roy Wegerle who I really enjoyed watching in a Rovers shirt

Think id go with that team to being honest. Although if , like Glenn said their not being judged solely on their rovers career it's hard to argue that the salgado of real Madrid was head and shoulders above berg as a right back. As was Marcus babbel of Bayern times. Your djorkaeff and Nuno gomes would also walk into that team at his peak. I would also swap samba for henchoz . Possibly berkovic for nzonzi

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1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Great thread!

Can't argue too much with The Gull's choices really, but if I were to pick an 18 based on them at the peak of their careers rather than how they played for us, it might look something like this (ignoring formations/tactics to an extent as you would end up leaving dead certs out or shoehorning people into unusual positions):

 

Brad Friedel G 

Henning Berg D 

Michel Salgado D

Andre Ooijer D 

Ryan Nelsen D (Captain) 

Tugay Kerimoğlu M

Osvaldo Ardiles M

Jermaine Jones M

Youri Djorkaeff M

Benny McCarthy F

Roque Santa Cruz F

Subs: John Filan G, Christopher Samba D, Patrick Andersson D, Morten Pedersen M, Steven N'Zonzi M, Fabio Nunes F, Dino Baggio M.

Have you gone with Fabio Nunes by accident instead of Nuno Gomes?

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