He won three Serie A titles and the Champions League in 1994, playing off Daniele Massaro to link play between midfield and attack. He was a warrior as much as an artist, but able to blend those two opposing ideals. Playmakers? Or maybe it is Laudrup who is most under-appreciated. By Ross Jackson“When I was a young boy I wanted to play for Newcastle United, I wanted to wear the number nine shirt and I wanted to score goals at St. James’ Park. Where are these ex Liverpool FC Premier League players now? A genius, a maverick, and an entertainer - he's earned his place as 90min's best footballer of the 90s.Read Charlie Stewart's full article on Eric Cantona here. To honour his contribution, a statue of the defender was placed outside the Emirates in 2011.Read Charlie Stewart's full article on Tony Adams here. We can enjoy watching back the moments of brilliance on film, but not without a nagging sense of collective regret.

The Romanian was less consistent than his Argentinian counterpart but no less capable of making your jaw drop. Bergkamp was many things to Arsenal, but he should be remembered most as the player who ensured Arsene Wenger’s success. The decade would start with four straight consecutive La Liga titles at Barcelona before he jumped ship to Real Madrid and promptly won the title there too. However, they can take inspiration from those who shot up the ladder - the likes of Jamie Vardy, Ian Wright, and, of course, Les Ferdinand.Renowned for his speed, strength, aerial ability, and lethal finishing, Les Ferdinand is the Premier League's tenth highest goalscorer of all time with 149.Read Charlie Stewart's full article on Les Ferdinand here. With FourFourTwo magazines 90s special out now, Huw Davies assesses the best players of that decade to grace English football from the ultimate captain to the ruthless artist Baggio might well be one of the most underrated players of the last 30 years, or at least now too easily overlooked. Read Ross Kennerley's full article on Ian Wright here. And by the time Pallister left Manchester United in 1998, he was actually the most decorated player in the club’s storied history after winning nine major trophies in nine seasons.Sir Alex Ferguson once said of his star man at the back, “He is a defensive Goliath, has electric pace and can pass the ball. Savage Garden ruled the airways, Meg Ryan ruled the box office and, most importantly, when football PEAKED. And, in and among all that nonsense, there was a pretty sensational footballer.In his prime, there were few who could match the class of Eric Cantona.

His ability to stay upright and delay until forcing the opponent to make the first move was incredible and Ferguson once referred to ‘this big blond Viking flying out at you’ while discussing the player’s phenomenal ‘aura’.Read Jamie Spencer's full article on Peter Schmeichel here.

20. “But he is a great player without a work ethic.”.

If you ever needed evidence of how highly regarded Vieira is at Arsenal, the fact the club still haven't found his successor 15 years on tells its own story.Read Ross Kennerley's full article on Patrick Vieira here. Information about your device and internet connection, including your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Verizon Media websites and apps. He was named African Footballer of the Year in three consecutive years at the start of the 1990s. We and our partners will store and/or access information on your device through the use of cookies and similar technologies, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Greece in 2004, Leicester in 2016, and plenty of zero-to-hero type tales.Not every footballer begins their career at the top, though.

Despite playing only 62 league games for Real Madrid, in 2002 Laudrup was voted the 12th best player in the club’s history. And to prove just that, here's some of the very best writers 90min has to offer on the top 20 footballers to play in the Premier League in the 90s.

Nor does it make the stunning hat-trick he netted against Arsenal in 1994 any less astounding. READ: Dennis Bergkamp’s greatest first touch isn’t that one…or that one – it’s this one.

By Jamie SpencerSchmeichel was an era-defining talent, who helped re-invent modern goalkeeping and so much more than just a shot-stopper.

In that time he would cover his mantelpiece with just about every winner’s medal available to him, along with the occasional personal accolade along the way.Read Ross Jackson's full article on Ryan Giggs here. He was one of the most naturally gifted players English football has ever seen, and doesn't need a burgeoning trophy cabinet to prove it.Read Robbie Copeland's full article on Matt Le Tissier here. To enable Verizon Media and our partners to process your personal data select 'I agree', or select 'Manage settings' for more information and to manage your choices. John Aldridge. He took Romania to the verge of the World Cup semi-final in 1994, exceptional throughout the tournament as they knocked out USA, Columbia and Argentina.
He excelled at just about everything, even goalscoring – he netted 10 times during the course of his career, and brought a unique style to the role.Schmeichel was noted for his presence, filling the goal and intimidating any forward that would get through one-on-one with him.

The tearjerker. By Charlie StewartEveryone loves a good underdog story. Even the likes of Steven Gerrard, John Terry, and Matt Le Tissier spent a year or so elsewhere.When it comes to true one-club men, there are seldom many better than Arsenal's Tony Adams.Adams ended his 19-year career as Arsenal's most successful captain, having won 13 trophies while making 672 appearances. Not least was Zidane’s sensational World Cup in France, when he was named Man of the Match in the final, FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner. At Highbury, he achieved exactly that status.

By Charlie StewartEric Cantona - what a life he's lived, eh?Booting a fan in the face, becoming a rather mediocre actor, posting strange videos on Instagram (don't go looking for them - trust me, you're better off not knowing). “He creates space where there is none. Yahoo is part of Verizon Media. Gascoigne was a superlative playmaker, potentially England’s most skilful player, but by the end of the 1990s his career and life was already being torn apart by the effects of immaturity combined with addiction. He then joined Real Madrid, where he stayed for three seasons, and Barcelona, where he managed only one. In 1999 he was awarded the title of Spanish football’s best foreign player of the last 25 years.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal records and consistency alone dictate that both must be considered as two of the five best players to have ever lived.

Few others ever will.Read Jamie Spencer's full article on Andy Cole here. Yet, like Maradona, Hagi was capable of leadership through on-pitch example if not off-field personality. Everybody has their favourite, be it one of their own team’s or someone they grew up watching and trying to emulate in the playground.

Yet arguably the lasting memory of him is in that effortlessly cool Croatia shirt during their wonderful World Cup in 1998. A former Yugoslavia international with 56 caps over 13 years, Savicevic was born in what is now Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.

The line between second striker and playmaker has become increasingly blurred over the last 20-30 years, but I’m still having Bergkamp in my list of playmakers. Yet he enjoyed Indian summers both in Glasgow, at Rangers, and in an England shirt during 1996. Where other players had been household names in their own country or were internationally in the football community, Beckham was arguably the first global celebrity footballer.But the reality is that his fame wouldn’t have spanned every corner of the globe had he not been incredibly talented on the pitch in the first place.Read Jamie Spencer's full article on David Beckham here. With Zvonimir Boban doing a similar job from a wide position, Milan crushed Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘Dream Team’, with Savicevic making it 3-0 shortly after half-time.

Past Players From iconic names like Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and Roger Hunt through to local heroes such as Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and John Aldridge, the Anfield turf has been graced by some truly special players. There's just something special about when someone overcomes impossible odds to achieve something great.And in football, we've seen plenty of them. By Ross KennerleyGood players have come and gone at the club since Vieira's time, but none managed to balance skill with strength and intelligence as the midfielder could.To be irreplaceable is to be held in high regard.

By Robbie CopelandSteve McManaman epitomised the way Liverpool wanted to play. By Grey WhitebloomSeaman may be more readily associated with a moustache and (brief) ponytail but after more than a decade dutifully and reliably spent between the sticks, the man often simply known as 'the Goalie' is perhaps the greatest to have ever donned a pair of gloves for Arsenal.Read Grey Whitebloom's full article on David Seaman here. Playmakers win hearts. The 15 best Premier League goals of the '90s By Greg Lea 08 January 2018 We count down the goals of our favourite decade, starring Cantona, Bergkamp, Wanchope and more Between 1989 and 1996, Denmark’s greatest ever player was Europe’s finest footballer. Having already embraced and benefited from concepts such as nutrition and individual training regimes in Serie A, Bergkamp was in the perfect position to spread that gospel to his Arsenal team-mates. His drive, will to win and limitless expectations of his teammates made him the ultimate professional.

Take that, Johan Cruyff. READ: Manuel Rui Costa, ‘The Maestro’ who made Fiorentina, Milan & Portugal tick.

Yet during his playing career, Savicevic made his name at Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, where he won the 1991 European Cup in that famous cult team. There is a theory called recency bias, which proposes that too much weight is placed on recent events, thus overestimating their importance in the context of history.

It is unfair to remember a player only for one great moment after a career of achievement, but to do so for their greatest mistake is infinitely harsher. In that time, only one player – Wayne Rooney – has actually managed to overtake his tally of 187 and go ahead in the standings.

Having won three league titles, the European Cup and been named the best young player at the 1990 World Cup at Red Star Belgrade, Prosinecki also finished fourth in World Player of the Year in 1991.

He has been the head of the Montenegrin FA for 16 years.

He was a playmaker and playboy, a chain-smoking genius and a magician with a football.