Footballer that inspires/inspired you. Why?

[Marx's left nut]

Patrick Vieira

Thought he was an awesome player-I played the same position in midfield as a kid and wanted to copy his style...

Until I met the prick at a funeral reception-the arsenal team were staying at the hotel and he refused to give autographs to a bunch of kids!

However Mr.Wenger spent 15 mins with a group of us, talking about the game ahead agaisnt the RS. Top man!

 

[heatmeiser]

Give Di Canio a mention for stopping a certain goal when our keeper was lain out injured, he could of scored, but fair play he did the right thing.

Whenever people mention Di Canio as a hero or inspiration I'm always compelled to remind them of these.

Everton wise it would have to be Dean.

At the moment Ivan Klasnic at Bolton is quite an inspiration. Having 2 kidney transplants and coming back to compete at the highest level (well, Bolton) is pretty amazing. He's the only player to play in a major tournament after such an operation (Euro 2008) and has 6 in 13 for them at the moment.

 

[davek]

Have to give one Diego Armando Maradona a mention, OK, he's not exactly whiter than white, and the epitome of all that is good with football, but for pure soccer genius and leadership/motivation the guy was unparalleled in terms of ability and what he could do with a ball.

I was fortunate enough to see him play live, the 1986 World Cup final, of all places, he did not score that day, but without him, there is no way Argentina would of won the world cup with the team they had, nearly repeating it four years later, but fell just short.

Greatest footballer I've ever seen for the reasons you mention. Practically won a World Cup single handedly.

And it gives us an excuse for posting THAT picture....