Truly world class.........?

[arminisgod]

Cole and lahm were ahead of him but I can’t think of many others. If you are considered amongst the top 5 in the world (which I happy to believe Baines was in his prime) then surely he needs to be considered world class.

Marcello, Alba, Abidal, Alaba

All better than Baines

 

[longers]

Alba was out on loan in the Spanish second division when Baines was at his peak, i don't think its a stretch to say Baines was the better left back at the point... Alba obviously turned out to be the superior player though.

Didn't Bayern try and sign Baines around 2010 ?

 

[rochdaleblue]

Alba was out on loan in the Spanish second division when Baines was at his peak, i don't think its a stretch to say Baines was the better left back at the point... Alba obviously turned out to be the superior player though.

Didn't Bayern try and sign Baines around 2010 ?

Was about to say the same thing.

 

[Cmonefcsortitout!]

Gazza was the only world class player we had in the 2 seasons I went to the matches, but he wasn't world class for long and wasn't near that when he played for us! I did see Southall play once though and he was world class while at Everton

 

[arminisgod]

Alba was out on loan in the Spanish second division when Baines was at his peak, i don't think its a stretch to say Baines was the better left back at the point... Alba obviously turned out to be the superior player though.

Didn't Bayern try and sign Baines around 2010 ?

Baines peak was 2011- 2012 (when he got in the PFA teams of the year)

Alba was at Valencia and Spains 1st choice LB.

Think the Bayern link was just gossip, since Alaba ended up playing there

 

[bluesb1970]

Martin Keown before his injury. He was fantastic at that time.

 

[4737carlin]

Cole and lahm were ahead of him but I can’t think of many others. If you are considered amongst the top 5 in the world (which I happy to believe Baines was in his prime) then surely he needs to be considered world class.

See if there was a world 11, for that one season around 2010 he might of got in it

 

[longers]

Baines peak was 2011- 2012 (when he got in the PFA teams of the year)

Alba was at Valencia and Spains 1st choice LB.

Think the Bayern link was just gossip, since Alaba ended up playing there

Id say his peak was 2010-2011 when he got 5 goals and 11 assists, 2011-2012 he got 2 goals and 4 assists. I was incorrect about Alba being on loan in second division during this season though, he was just starting to break into the Valencia squad that season.

 

[arminisgod]

Id say his peak was 2010-2011 when he got 5 goals and 11 assists, 2011-2012 he got 2 goals and 4 assists. I was incorrect about Alba being on loan in second division during this season though, he was just starting to break into the Valencia squad that season.

Baines was an excellent premiership player. No doubt.

 

[ChesterBlue]

Big Nev “Well done he’s 13”

 

[4737carlin]

Hazard was world class tonight, thats the stand you need to play to be a world 11 contender

 

[KaiserEFC]

Baines wasn’t world class, let’s lose the blue tinted specs guys.

 

[Tel001]

Does that mean someone like Jordan Henderson for example is world class?

No, how did you come to that conclusion? I’m saying that Cahill hasn’t even been tested in the cl so calling him world class is a bit much do t you think? If he was world class people would have bid for him... heard of many world class players That were on relatively small wages, playing for a non cl club and the highest transfer fee ever commanded in their career was 1.5m? I love Tim but In no way can he be called world class

 

[Tel001]

Marcello, Alba, Abidal, Alaba

All better than Baines

I’d still say being the 6 th best human on the planet at playing LB is still world class tbf

 

[JimmyK]

Baines wasn’t world class, let’s lose the blue tinted specs guys.

May have been covered further back in the thread but it surely just depends how you define the term world class? Being the best left back in arguably the best league in the world would give you a pretty solid shout of being world class in my opinion. But of course some people can’t look at individual performances and will only say someone’s world class if they play for a top team. So if baines has played at the exact same level but for Barcelona instead of us he’d have suddenly become world class in their eyes.