10 best football quotes of 2017

Bristol City v Manchester United - Carabao Cup Quarter-Final
Mourinho's bitter statement is set to reverberate in England in the coming years

#7 Rooney becomes Manchester United's leading goalscorer

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Premier League
Manchester United's all-time top goalscorer

It is not often that a player comes to a big club and spends more than a decade playing for the first-team. Even so, it requires a lot of talent, dedication and effort to break the goalscoring record at such clubs. Even for the two greatest players of this generation, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it took quite a good amount of time to become the leading goalscorers at Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

Hence, Wayne Rooney's efforts to break Sir Bobby Charlton's age-old goalscoring record at Manchester United was a huge feat in itself. Unsurprisingly, it was a bittersweet moment for Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson's praise for his protege encompasses the greatness of Rooney's achievement.

"When Wayne Rooney joined the club I could never imagine anybody could beat Sir Bobby's record. So his achievement is outstanding. It's amazing. He's 200-odd games short of Bobby's playing record and that makes it even more amazing. I don't think anyone can [overtake Rooney]."

A Wayne Rooney stand at Old Trafford in the future then?


#6 Tinkerman loses his job

Leicester City v Everton - Premier League
Ranieiri scripted one of the greatest success stories ever

One of the greatest footballing stories of this decade was Leicester City's underdog triumph in the Premier League in 2016. The Foxes stunned every top club in England to script history and the man behind their success was Claudio Ranieri.

However, struggles in the following 2016/17 season led to rumours of unrest in the squad and the Italian was sacked in February sparking a massive backlash from the footballing world. United gaffer Jose Mourinho offered his condolences and respect by saying:

"He deserves the Leicester stadium to be named 'Claudio Ranieri Stadium'. The most beautiful thing in the Premier League and one of most beautiful in football history."

However, the defining statement came from the "Tinkerman" himself who left an indelible mark by saying:

"Yesterday my dream died. After the euphoria of last season and being crowned Premier League champions all I dreamt of was staying with Leicester City, the club I love, for always. Sadly this was not to be."

This was the closing statement in a story that will be told for a long time and what a classy quote it was.

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