Players better than Beckham during 98-99

[MB20]

Somebody mentioned in another thread that David Beckham was a top 20 player in the world during Manchester United's run in 1998-1999

I say the following players were better than him:

Zidane, Ronaldo, Batistuta, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldinho, Zamorano, Laudrup, Raul, Henry, Thuram, Shearer, Del Piero, P. Maldini, Totti, Vieri, Bergkamp, Rivaldo, Kluivert, Van Nistelrooy, Figo, Nedved, Hagi, Shevchenko, Stoichkov, Zola, Weah, Baggio, Cafu.

Which ones were clearly better, and which ones are arguably not as good as him?

I don't think Beckham was that great myself. Sure, he was the best back then at shooting free kicks.

But individually ( Man U had the best TEAM, but that's not into discussion), I think the players listed were better.

Beckham has always been overrated as a player because he is a super marketable guy.

Opinions?

(I know Americans don't give a shit about soccer, so this thread is mainly for international posters) :lol

[sonic21]

...Suker, Boban, Davids, Viera, Zanetti, Stankovic, Owen (only in 1998-1999)



Zidane, Ronaldo, Batistuta, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldinho, Zamorano, Laudrup, Raul, Henry, Thuram, Shearer, Del Piero, P. Maldini, Totti, Vieri, Bergkamp, Rivaldo, Kluivert, Van Nistelrooy, Figo, Nedved, Hagi, Shevchenko, Stoichkov, Zola, Weah, Baggio, Cafu



better than beckham in 1998-1999

[MB20]

Suker? Davor Suker...from Croatia? I don't agree, sonic21
That croatian team overachieved during the WC, and I was happy for them. But Suker had the shoes laces tied together, imo...:lol
He had a lot of confidence in himself, after Maradona helped him score some goals while in Sevilla. :hat

Owen was 18 years old back then if I remember correctly. He scored a goad against Argentina during the WC. But he was too young.

Weah dominated in Italy. Too bad he was from a country in Africa who didn't stand a chance to qualify to any important competition.
Drogba had better luck recently. Weah not playing in a WC was a shame.

[sonic21]

Suker was past his prime in 1998, In the Euro 1996 he was impressive. His first season with the real was great too. But yeah maybe he was not that great

you picked guys like zola, romario, stoichkov, hagi who were past their prime in 1999 though.

[Brazil]

let me see

Zidane, Ronaldo, Batistuta, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldinho, Zamorano, Laudrup, Raul, Henry, Thuram, Shearer, Del Piero, P. Maldini, Totti, Vieri, Bergkamp, Rivaldo, Kluivert, Van Nistelrooy, Figo, Nedved, Hagi (lol wtf?), Shevchenko, Stoichkov, Zola, Weah, Baggio, Cafu.

Even if you consider some of Sonic list, DB is a top 20 player during 6-7 years, now he surely doesn't deserve all the media hype he got but untill 1 or 2 years after his arrival in Madrid David is easy a TOP 20.