7 Most UNDERRATED Footballers of the Modern Era

Angel Di Maria is a champions league and World Cup winner who has spent 15 years as one of the best and most consistent players in Europe making almost 500 goal contributions in just shy of 900 games at club and international level yet there are still some people who tried to downplay his talents or who think that he isn't that good based invariably solely upon a single season at Manchester United in which he wasn't even that bad his compatriot laara Martinez suffers from similar misconceptions owing to a few spurned opportunities at the 2022 World Cup despite the fact that he has scored 18 goals in 18 games in Sera this season for League leaders Inter Milan with whom he also scored 28 goals and made 11 assists in all competitions on route to a Champions League final last season I hate the use of the term underrated in football because it's just so nebulous and means different things to different people and yes I am well aware that this is the introduction to a video titled the seven most underrated footballers of the modern era but it's true to some people it can include even Bonafide Legends of the game like anwan Griezmann or Eden Hazard two of the most expensive footballers of all time if they don't feel they quite get the credit they deserve to others it can only be dished out to refer to plays who get next to no recognition at all or have been all but forgotten is Neil Franklin for example who are wrote a book about and was one of the greatest footballers of the 1940s and 50s underrated because he isn't commonly cited as being one of the best offenders to have ever played the game I would contest that he isn't because most people have never heard of him so rather than being under or overrated he just isn't rated at all and then you get players who I think probably were once underrated let's say musm b not that one yeah that's right Paul skulls Olivier James Milner and gy but the fact that they probably were once underrated has been pointed out so many times now that it's no longer true and in some cases the pendulum has swung so far back the other way that I think sometimes they actually end up being overrated there are also players who were once extremely highly rated like Saul Campbell or Michael Owen the latter of whom obviously want a Balon door it doesn't get much more highly rated than literally being named as the best footballer on the planet but who predominantly for non-f football reasons I think have had their legacies worn away to such an extent that again I would argue they probably are actually a little bit underrated it is a real mindfield out there as you can see exhibited by the range of responses that I got in anticipation of making this video when I tweeted pondering its title anyway the official definition of underrated is apparently not rated or valued highly enough that seems a bit more straightforward so that's that's what we'll try to stick to and by modern era I wanted to try and limit it to players who played predominantly if not exclusively post 2000 so as to limit what we'll just call the Neil Franklin underrated just not rated Paradox without further Ado then who uh I think on the balance of things you would probably have to say was slightly overrated at least as a 15-year-old here are I think seven of the most underrated footballers of the modern era seventh Danny caral we Kickstart this seven with a boring Choice You could argue but the fact that Danny carvajal's name elicits such a lack of emotion in people's minds probably tells you something about the degree to which he is underrated compare him to any other Real Madrid or Barcelona fullback who has enjoyed a similar degree of success and Longevity over the last 20 years yordi Alba Danny Alves Marcelo Eric abidal and Roberto Carlos are are all considered Legends of the game yet Carvajal who has won five Champions Leagues and has been a mainstate at Real Madrid in every one of those seasons is met with little more than a me it's almost as though the consensus is that Real Madrid have won 23 trophies in carvajal's 10 and a half Seasons at the babo in spite of him rather than in large part because he has been one of the best fullbacks in the world throughout that time Madrid resigned carbajal in the summer of 2013 following a single season up by a lusen in which he was outstanding and since then only Luca Modric Tony Crow and Karen benzar have played more games to the club than him Carvajal might not be quite as flashy as Alber or Alves and certainly not Marcelo or Roberto Carlos but defensively he's probably more dependable than any of them his consistency levels have very rarely wavered hence why has been one of the first names on the team sheet for five different Real Madrid managers during that time and his athleticism ISM and ability to cause team's problems down Real Madrid's right flank has routinely been underplayed quick hardworking intelligent and capable of putting a brilliant ball into the box Carvajal is a supremely complete fullback and though he is very rarely recognized as such undoubtedly one of the best of his generation so boring as he may be perceived I think that he is the adal candidate to get us started oh and as I was recording this he just scored a 99th minute winner against al Maria to put Real Madrid briefly back top of the La Liga table which feels somewhat poetic sixth Alex duza another issue with determining whether a player is underrated or not because I know that you all wanted more of those following the introduction is that there can be fundamental demographic or geographical discrepancies in how players are perceived Alex duza for example probably isn't underrated by many turkey or Brazilian football fans who would have him up there alongside the very best players of his generation but he is chronically underrated by fans from almost everywhere else that's why he's sixth but if you exclude those two rather large demographics I think Alex is perhaps the most underrated footballer of the modern era full stop Alex wasn't blessed with Majestic physical attributes not the tallest quickest or strongest but what he was born with was magic in his boots that was immediately apparent in his teens when he first burst onto the scene with his boy club CBA before winning five trophies in only a couple of years at palas including the big one the copper libertad oras that prompted a move to free spending Ser aside Palmer who were already on the precipice of financial ruin but due to the limit on foreign players in Italy's Top Flight Palmer weren't actually able to play him they wanted to send him out on loan to another Italian Club but Alex refused instead heading back to Brazil where he enjoed two difficult years of facing legal threats from his own parent Club who tried to prevent him from playing without that setback Alex most likely would have been a part of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning team and may even have started games ahead of Ronaldinho because of it he ended up never going to a World Cup at all an inspired season at cruso however led to a 5 million euro move to fedach where Alex became a legend almost immediately installed as Captain over the next 8 years Alex made 311 goal contributions in 344 games in estle from Midfield it is an absolutely absurd record and in his most prolific Campaign which was actually the 20101 season age 33 Alex scored 28 goals and made 16 assists in only 38 games inspiring fenna to a league and cup double over the course of his career as a whole Alex scored four 421 goals and made 363 assists which is the most I think of any midfielder of the modern era so why isn't he held in higher esteem well there are two main reasons why Alex is underrated and both of them are fairly obvious he spent virtually his entire career playing in turkey and Brazil only playing eight games for Palmer in Sera and though he won 49 caps for Brazil in the era of raldo Ronaldinho Kaka and janino who could all play in his position no less and Captain them to a copper America he never had a crowning moment for a global audience on the international stage never appeared at a FIFA World Cup and isn't conceptualized as being one of Brazil's iconic players he also failed to produce at times in the Champions League only ever making four knockout stage appearances all in the 20078 season and only making two assists for all of those reasons it's probably only right that Alex shouldn't be put put in the same bracket as raldo Ronaldinho and Kaka but all three of them would attest to his remarkable talents and he does deserve to be considered in that bracket just below them which he very rarely is hence his inclusion in sixth fifth Silvan distan look I know there are probably going to be some of you laughing at this going from Alex to Souza a genuinely generational Talent who scored about twice as many goals for Midfield as Frank Lampard to silv and Stan a center back who retired at Bournemouth in 2016 but this is a deeply held belief of mine so you're just going to have to hear me out well obviously you don't have to you can stop watching anytime sadly a One World Government hasn't made this channel compulsory viewing for all yet but if you do keep watching you will have to hear me justify Silvan D's inclusion in this set distan began his career with Jou Leto a team that no longer exists in the fourth ter of French football but within just two years following two transfers he found himself at PSG where he made 40 appearances in his first and only season at the park depron the PSG of 2000 was far from the PSG post guari takeover though they finished slap bang in the middle of the league un table that season and Newcastle United were able to take distan on a season long loan that began a 15-year love affair between the French Center back and English football's top flights during which time distan made some 469 Premier League appearances that is the most of any foreign outfi player during the Premier League era distan was 6'4 in tall he was quick positionally astute he was a leader comfortable and composed in possession aily dominant timed his tackles well and hardly ever missed a game what's not to like I honestly think that had distan played for one of the top clubs and I know he played for Manchester City but I mean a top club at the time he'd be in the conversation with the likes of coo té Vincent company or even Nan Village I'm not saying that he was better than any of them but he would be in the conversation which as far as I can tell and obviously unjustly in my view he certainly isn't now in addition to not winning many major trophies aside from an FA Cup with Portsmouth and a stunning Coupe Dela League against PSG before signing for them distan never won a single cap for France in fact he also holds the record for the most appearances during the Premier League era while remaining uncapped and he never made a PFA Team of the Year or even one the player of the year award for any one of his clubs that's despite being an absolutely Rock Solid Center back and then some so I had to include him I mean not literally again no one would have killed me if I hadn't but just morally and ethically I felt obliged fourth Hulk footballers are underrated for a variety of reasons for Alex DUS Souza it was because he wasn't playing for a super Club in one of Europe's Big Five leagues for someone like Michael Carrick it was because he played in a supposedly unglamorous position and went about his business very quietly in the case of Brazilian forward Hulk it is entirely his own fault and before anyone says oh come on Alfie if you were offered XYZ so just to be clear that's not my point I'm not saying that Hulk did anything wrong should have done this this or this just that quite simply if you follow the money to such a dogmatic extent that you never play in a top League despite repeated interest and therefore never pick your wits against the best in the business on a consistent basis then you can't have too many complaints when people don't give you the credit or realize just how good you were people have a go at Oscar for moving to China at 25 but and maybe it is only a minor consolation Oscar had at least spent spent 4 and 1 half years at Chelsea where he played over 200 games winning the Premier League and the Europa League Hulk never even played in a top five League the peak of his career in terms of the level he competed at and European progression came with his first European Club Porto with whom he won 11 trophies including the Europa League and reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League Hulk was absolutely incredible the year that Porto won the Europa League which was the 20101 season scoring thir 5 goals and making 27 assists in 53 games from the right flank unsurprisingly after a campaign like that and still aged only 24 Hulk attracted the interest of just about every Super Club in Europe he ended up signing an extension with Porto who increased their share in his ownership rates that summer to 85% for the following year he joined zenet St Petersburg in the Russian Premier League on a deal worth they reported €6.5 million a season that was huge ug money at the time I mean it still is obviously it's way more than I make but in 2012 it made Hulk one of the highest earners in European football after four years at zenet Hulk joined Shanghai sipg of course he bloody did on even more money £320,000 a week supposedly and that was in 2016 so don't weep for Hulk he made his bed but that doesn't change the fact that I think he's massively underrated at 24 he was already one of the most dangerous forwards in Europe incredibly quick powerful direct technically gifted inventive and clinical as well as having a left foot like a traction engine the ironic thing is I think Hulk was actually good enough to earn similar money while playing at a prestigious level he was that good and if he had he'd also most likely have won a lot more than 49 caps of Brazil Jour dud era for the sell in fact he could well have been their second second most important player behind Neymar overall Hulker scored 399 goals and made 213 assists in 746 games to date averaging a goal contribution once every 100 minutes over a period of 20 years and though that record may be tainted by playing against inferior opposition Hulk Illustrated in Europe never in a super team it should be said that he could perform against the very best with 27 goal contributions in games in the Champions League and 19 in 26 in the Europa League third edin jao the man who will probably be on the thumbnail of this video I make the videos before the thumbnail so I can't be sure of that edin jeo is the first player that comes into my mind when I think of underrated footballers from the modern era with the exception of his last and current clubs now very much a veteran jeo has tended to make a bit of a slow start to life at new clubs taking a little while to a settle in which perhaps taints the long-term perception of him so at Wolfsburg for example he scored nine goals in 33 games in his debut campaign compared to an eyew watering 36 goals in 42 games in his second and Manchester City only two Premier League goals in 15 games in his first half season but 26 in all comps it his most prolific campaign in England and even at Roma jeo only managed to score eight goals in the league and 10 in all competitions on loan but the the following year after signing on a permanent he scored a quite incredible 29 in the league and 39 in all competitions there are a few things that are remarkable about Jacko one is the sheer number of goals that he scored 356 in 827 games at Club level almost all coming in Elite level leagues plus 65 in 133 games for Bosnia which makes him bosnia's all-time leading goal scorer with more than twice as many go goals as anyone else and one of the leading scorers in the international game of all time I will just quickly reel off some fellow forwards that jeo has outscored during the 21st century David via Wayne Rooney Carlos TZ Robin van persy RL falow Didier Drogba it is quite an impressive list another is his longevity unlike every other forward that I just mentioned jeo is still going strong age 37 and currently leads the Turkish Super League scoring charts having scored 20 goals in 26 games since signing for fenar jao was a victim at Manchester City of Sergio aguero's Brilliance which made him a bit of an afterthought but it is worth just mentioning that without jacko's equalizer against Queens Park Rangers there would have been no Aguero moment and no first premier league title for Manchester City an outstanding all round Center forward capable of playing the role of either scorer or provider with equally devastating effects did I mention his more than 150 career assists jeo belongs every bit to the pantheon of great 21st century Strikers but is rarely recognized as being one second clao mariso I so nearly put this guy first clao marchisio is the perfect inclusion in this seven by just about any metric he was underrated when he played he is underrated now that he's retired and he has always been underrated pretty much across the board in terms of geography and fan bases naturally Italians and most notably Juventus fans have a greater appreciation for his talents than anyone else but even in Italy I don't think that he ever truly got the recognition that he deserved a quiet genius marchisio was the glue that held together at all conquering Juventus team for almost an entire decade remarkably complete Mario really could do it all a brilliant athlete technically outstanding and both incredibly intelligent and hardworking he is probably one of the only players during the 21st century who could have played either as a center back or as a number 10 or possibly even as a center forward and still had an excellent career at the highest level instead it was in Central and occasionally holding Midfield that mariso played most of his football there he did whatever was needed of him in the 201 101 season when Juventus were a little lacking in goals he bagged double figures and was their top scorer as the old lady won their first scarto since the Cure poly scandal in the 20156 season by contrast when Juventus were a wash with goal scorers throughout their side marchisio played much deeper functioning as a fulm in Midfield as he didn't score a single goal but they inevitably won yet another Seria title when they had strength both in defensive and attack mid filed mariso could focus on dictating play and creating sequences and patterns on the pitch while remaining dogged and tireless off the ball I think Mario's reputation suffers from the fact that when Juventus were at their best making two Champions League finals the likes of Andrea Perlo Paul Pogba Paulo dybala and Gonzalo Higuain were considered to be their star men arguably however with the possible exception of Perlo and even then it would be debatable at times n were as important to events's success as marchisio and it is zero surprise to me at least the event has suffered a painful decline after his departure and have struggle to replace him zero honorable mentions I mentioned a few of them in the introduction and my short list for this video was unjustifiably long so I'm not going to go through them all plus all of the suggestions that people sent me on Twitter hundreds of them but aside from those who I have already mentioned the players who probably came closest to featuring but who just missed out include the likes of Ian perisic Iago aspas Stefan Hoffman Andrea baragi Dominic lakovic Mario manzukic Miroslav closer Lewis Alberto Joe Cole Juan Fran yuss escalin Nikki buts Lucio and I think probably most notably of all Johan mud a man who replaced Zinedine zidan at both KH and Bordeaux and likely would have Francis long-term number 10 were not for zizu himself that's it for the cutdown honorable mentions but there is still time for the small matter of top spot first Diego molito I think any of the top three would have been perfectly legitimate top spots in this seven and I suspect that most people don't actually care about the order of the seven players who feature that much regardless but I do think after much deliberation that Diego molito is probably the single most underrated footballer of the modern era there's probably a few reasons for that firstly outside of Inter Milan molito never played for a super club turning out for Racing Club Genoa and R varaga that always has an impact secondly partly because of that first point and partly because of competition from the likes of Crespo TZ saviola Messi higu and Aguero molito only ever won 25 cap for Argentina over a period of 8 years many of them coming off the bench and thirdly even at Inter Milan when molito won the biggest trophy in club football and a historic treble sametto was still considered to be in's main man up front what all of that disguises though is an incredible footballer and a remarkably consistent career spanning over 15 years six foot tall big and strong molito was always a handful in terms of his Sher presence a athleticism ability to receive the ball in the air and defeat love of a tussle and willingness to run the channels on the ball he was a very underrated technician so difficult to dispossess and equally capable of going past players or picking a pass and of course most importantly of all he had magnificent anticipation inside of the box and was Lethal with either foot inan might have been his only super Club but if anything that ought to only make his 60 W goals in 125 games for the goza and his 26 goals in 32 games for genua even more impressive in fact on a goals per game basis malito's sole season at J in Sera was the most prolific of his career over his career as a whole molito scored over 250 goals in a little over 600 games that only tells half the story though because molito wasn't just a scorer of lots of goals though he most assuredly was that as well he was also a scorer of really big goals in significant or clutch moments in that 20091 treble winning Campaign which was his first into Milan molito scored in the last 16 the quarterfinal the semifinal and then both goals in in's 2-n win against Bayern in the final as well as scoring the only goal and therefore the winning goal against Roma in the final of the copper Italia and even though etto might have been perceived as being into's Main man molito scored almost twice as many goals as him that season just a brilliant all round Center forward who came up trumps when it mattered most and doesn't get anywhere near the recognition he deserves until now in this video of course which as we all know now means that the pendulum has begun to swing in the opposite direction and in a few years time people will be saying that he was better than etto Aguero and probably p and will have gone full circle life is just an endless cycle of people being underrated until people know that they are underrated at which point they become overrated until people forget about it and they become underrated once again and then you die on that note thank you very much for watching today's video hit the like button if you enjoyed it or uh you know just the positivity that it ended with let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and of course it goes without saying make sure you're subscribed both to this Channel and my second Channel Alfie Poots Arma both of which should be on or about to appear on your screens now along with a couple of videos that you might enjoy watching after this one you can also find me on Twitter Instagram or threads via the username at h7s on all three should you wish to do so and all of those links plus a whole lot more good stuff should be down in the video description below cheers

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 167,606

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Underrated, Footballers, Players, Most, Edin Dzeko, Premier League, Manchester City, Dzeko, Champions League, Bundesliga, Inter Milan, Fenerbahce

Id: yrVQ5u2zuWg

Length: 25min 47sec (1547 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2024