Deadline Day loan signing Ben Liddle gives us his all-time favourite XI, including a very attack-minded midfield, and a certain Geordie hero who just misses out of the starting line-up.
MANAGER: Sir Alex Ferguson
BL: “Everyone knows how much the guy has won, and he was always good at getting the best out of the players he worked with.”
FORMATION: 4-4-2
GK: Iker Casillas
BL: “Similarly to Sir Alex Ferguson, he won pretty much everything he went for. Growing up watching him, some of the saves he pulled off were unbelievable to be honest.”
RB: Dani Alves
BL: “He’s so good at both sides of the game, both attacking and defending, so for a neutral seeing him play, he was a great watch.”
CB: Virgil Van Dijk
BL: “I’d say he’s definitely the best defender in the world at the moment, and has the potential to be one of the best ever.”
CB: John Terry
BL: “A real top centre-back. Terry made a great leader on the pitch, and I’m sure he did off it, he had bags of ability.”
LB: Sergio Ramos
BL: “He’s another one of those that’s brilliant on the ball for a defender, which is a great asset to have in the modern game. He has the versatility to play at full-back too.”
RM: Ronaldinho
BL: “Obviously, we all know what he could do with the ball. He had everything, in the sense that he created so much, but also scored some great goals.”
CM: Xavi
BL: “A world-class midfielder at the time who rarely gave the ball away. He was a real big-game player and his leadership skills fell under the radar a little bit.”
CM: Steven Gerrard
BL: “He scored some unbelievable goals for a midfielder, and had a great passing range to go with that. Gerrard was sort of my idol growing up as a young lad.”
LM: Andres Iniesta
BL: “A creative outlet who has won everything there is to win. He created so many chances for his teammates, and scored the World Cup winning goal for Spain in 2010.”
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo
BL: “Not far behind his strike partner in my team, in terms of ability. CR7 is a complete forward who’s got a bit of everything, physically and technically.”
ST: Lionel Messi
BL: “In my opinion, he is the best player the game has ever seen. Some of things he can do with a football are unimaginable to everyone else.”
THREE WHO MISSED OUT:
CM: Paul Scholes
BL: “Like Gerrard – as a midfielder – he was another one of my idols as a young player.”
ST: Alan Shearer
BL: “I grew up as a Newcastle United fan so it’s hard for me leaving him out of the starting XI, he was an all-round natural goalscorer.”
ST: Luis Suarez:
BL: “Everyone knows what Suarez was like in front of goal in the Premier League. Imagine him in that Liverpool team now!”