But, for football reasons at least, it was a surprise to see him join Napoli in a world record £5million move considering they had just finished 12th.After a brief spell back at Leeds, he returned to Italy with Roma but he could not quite reach his Juventus heights again.Who needs a yard of pace when it was already in the head? He's also helmed four Coppa Italia winners, a UEFA Cup winner and a Club World Cup champion.Zanetti's most remarkable attribute after his longevity is his versatility. Inter won the title that year—by two points over Juve.On the international level, he led the team to the '06 World Cup, garnering three Man of the Match awards—including in the final—and making the tournament all-star team. New, 46 comments. He was rarely out of position and seldom made errors.Ronaldo fever was in full swing during the mid-1990s and by the time he joined Inter Milan from Barcelona for £19.5million in 1997 it was the second time in as many seasons he had commanded a world record fee, having previously arrived in Spain from PSV.Maybe too many in fact, as we at Sportsmail found out while trying to cram them into a top 10 greatest Serie A players of all time list...During his 25 years at Roma, Francesco Totti tasted title glory only once in 2001Nine official league titles are credited to Buffon who is widely regarded as the greatest goalkeeper of all time.A trophy laden career was only going to attract him - seven league titles and five Champions League wins were the highlights. The Montenegrin was excellent at playmaking in the final third, and in a better world, he would have won more titles with Roma and fewer with Juventus. Yet his reputation hardly diminished. With him, unfancied Italian teams won the 2006 World Cup and were runners up at Euro 2012. He is only one of six men to score 200 times in Serie A (205 to be exact), scoring at a clip of .45 goals per game. You only have to look at one of his typical warm ups where laces undone he casually juggles a football with supreme skill, yet also looking incredibly bored while doing it.Gianluigi Buffon quickly became a world class goalkeeper after starting his career at ParmaTears were shed all round when he finally retired in 2017 as a one-man club following 785 games and 307 goals.Marco van Basten was a goal scoring threat at AC Milan before injuries cut his career shortNot quite the first British footballer to play abroad but he certainly proved to be a trailblazer as Charles' success at Juventus paved the way for the likes of Jimmy Greaves and Denis Law to follow suit soon after. Four years later, however, he only played 45 minutes of the World Cup due to a back injury and spent the first half of the club season recovering.
No. All these eras have seen players become legends in that famous black and yellow jersey. After tackling the Best South Americans and Best Italians to don a Roma shirt, we look at the best eleven(Non-Italian) European players for the Giallorossi. Without him, Italy's title defense ended in dismal fashion in the group stage in 2010.Silvio Piola is the greatest scorer in Serie A history. He scored 81 goals in his seven years at the San Paolo, and despite some controversy surrounding him off the field, he was so influential to the side that they took the unusual step of retiring his No. But both his longevity (25 years of high-level play) and his preposterous scoring numbers rank him amongst some of the best players Italy has ever produced.In 20 years at the San Siro, Beppe Bergomi played in 519 matches in the Serie A and made his name as one of the greatest defenders in Italy's history.Such an achievement just adds to the pile of evidence that no Italian has ever matched Pirlo in the middle of the field.Despite the team's struggles in the years following their promotion back to the top flight, he continued to fight for the club until his final year with the club, when he helped Antonio Conte's team to an unbeaten season and his final Serie A title, the culmination of the rebuilding process he had vowed to see through.One of the most tragic figures in Italian soccer, Valentino Mazzola was a true trailblazer.The ultimate symbol of AS Roma, Francesco Totti played his first game in 1993 and scored his first goal against Foggia the next year.After retiring, Facchetti held numerous front-office positions with the club, and was the team's president upon his death in 2006 from pancreatic cancer.Chief amongst Buffon's numerous gifts is his ability to marshal a defense He showed this talent in spades last season after Juve switched tactics to a three-man defensive system the likes of which he had never played behind, but still allowed only 20 goals in 38 league matches: the best defensive record in Europe.Michel Platini's career in Serie A was brief when compared to the rest of his illustrious playing days, but the midfielder, known for his prolific scoring, was an integral part of the Juventus teams that reached a pair of European Cup finals, winning one in 1985.
Be sure to sound off in the comments!After tackling the Best South Americans and Best Italians to don a Roma shirt, we look at the best eleven(Non-Italian) European players for the Giallorossi.Radja Nainggolan is probably one of the most controversial players to play for the Giallorossi in the twenty-first century, but love him or hate him, no one can deny his talent.
He retired in 1954 with a total of 274 goals.