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“I’ve been wondering: who is the greatest footballer never to make an appearance in England?” muses Cameron Turner. “Did any of the game’s greats go their whole career without visiting the home of football? I think the best bet might be a South American from the 1970s-1990s, though Brazil and Argentina often played friendlies at Wembley.”
This question is difficult to answer categorically, mainly because the internet does not yet provide chapter and verse on every football match played by superstars of the black-and-white era. But it’s also far too interesting to leave on the cutting-room floor, so we’ve given it a go with the caveat that the answers are only 99% correct.
We checked with Cameron and those who played friendlies in England are ineligible. This rules out, among others, Marco van Basten, who never played a competitive game but did appear for Milan at Old Trafford in 1988 and at Wembley in the Makita Tournament of the same year.
