10 of the most outspoken footballers 

#8: Joey Barton

The BBC labelled Joey Barton a "budding philosopher" due to his outspoken nature

One of football’s ultimate bad boys, Joey Barton constantly courted controversy during his playing career, whether it was for infractions on the pitch – see his attack on Sergio Aguero during the last game of the 2011/12 season – or off the pitch, where he was convicted for ABH on former teammate Ousmane Dabo and banned for illegal gambling activities.

His outspoken nature has also made him one of the most infamous players of all time. Once labelled as a “budding philosopher” by the BBC, he’s far more withering when it comes to his fellow footballers – recently he labelled Everton’s Morgan Schneiderlin and Idrissa Gueye as “terrible” and “brain dead” respectively. He also called PSG’s Thiago Silva an “overweight ladyboy” and called Alan Shearer a “pr*ck”.

Nor have his opinions been kept purely to football – he’s stated that if he were Prime Minister, he’d “privatise religion” and disestablish the Church of England, and he’s also tweeted in support of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, stating that attempts to remove him from power were a disgrace. One thing is for certain – nobody can ever accuse Barton of keeping his opinions to himself!