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While the majority of footballers can be accused of many things, most of them can’t be classed as trash talkers like we see in other sports such as boxing’s Floyd Mayweather and MMA’s Conor McGregor. While most players are confident in their skills, even the best can usually be considered relatively humble about their abilities. When did you last hear Lionel Messi brag?
With that said, there have been – and still are - a handful of players who are hugely outspoken, whether they like to brag about their own skills or put down the abilities of opponents or former teammates. Sometimes it makes them more popular, but sometimes it makes fans dislike them – and sometimes it’s somewhere in the middle.
In no particular order, here are ten of the most outspoken footballers of all time.
#1: Craig Bellamy
Welsh striker Craig Bellamy was a Premier League staple for well over a decade, playing for the likes of Newcastle, Manchester City and Liverpool and scoring plenty of goals along the way. Unfortunately, Bellamy also cultivated somewhat of an unsavoury reputation, largely because of his outspoken nature off the pitch.
He began his Premier League career with Coventry in 2000/01, but after leaving them following their relegation that season, he claimed the club lacked intensity, felt his teammates resented him and always knew they were going to struggle. In 2009 he famously threw his own Wales side under the bus, calling them “poor” after they’d conceded two goals against Finland.
Opponents weren’t out of reach either, with Bellamy deciding to wade into the John Terry/Wayne Bridge controversy in 2010 by claiming that nothing about Terry’s behaviour surprised him as “everybody in football” knew what he was like.
Considering most of his outspoken soundbites tended to be negative it’s no wonder his reputation wasn’t stellar with opposing fans.
#2: Nicklas Bendtner
There’s perhaps nothing more hilarious to fans than an athlete who has a massively inflated opinion of themselves, and in football there’s been no better example in that sense than Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner. Despite playing largely a bit-part at Arsenal over the course of his 7 seasons there, he never stopped believing he could be – or already was – the best striker in the world.
A 2010 interview saw him claim he wasn’t overconfident – before going on to state that he was one of the best strikers in the world, even if he still needed to improve in some areas. When asked about his place in the Arsenal line-up he claimed he ought to be playing every minute of every match, and famously, he claimed clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid could offer him the playing time he required.
Unfortunately Bendtner never made a move to Spain – instead he left Arsenal for loan moves to Sunderland and Juventus – where he only made 11 appearances – and then ended up at Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest. In 2016 he seemed to regret his outspoken nature, but then stated that he wasn’t ashamed of having such lofty goals even if he didn’t reach them in the end, which is almost fair.
#3: Paul Scholes
During his career with Manchester United, Paul Scholes was renowned for being the type of player to allow his skills on the pitch to do the talking. Famed for scoring some spectacular goals, Scholes once claimed that all he ever wanted to do was play football, and he preferred criticism to compliments as it drove him to prove people wrong.
Since moving into the world of punditry though, Scholes has suddenly developed a new side to him – and has become one of the most outspoken men in the football world – largely aiming his vitriol at his old side Man United, who have fallen on harder times since his retirement.
The summer of 2014 saw him concerned about the future of United, who he felt needed five or six new players to make it back to the top of the Premier League. By 2015/16 though he’d had enough and really became outspoken, criticising United boss Louis van Gaal at every opportunity.
Scholes slated United’s lack of creativity, questioned whether van Gaal had a problem with forward players as his football was boring, and labelled them average. He also criticised some of the younger players like Anthony Martial on whether he cared at all.
More recently Scholes has been criticising United under Jose Mourinho, claiming his side had no desire and no energy in their Champions League loss to Sevilla.
#4: Gary Neville
As a pundit, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has been just as outspoken as his old teammate Paul Scholes – famously tearing into the likes of David Luiz – who he once described as defending “like he was being controlled by a 10-year old on a PlayStation”. But while Scholes was largely quiet during his playing career, the same could not be said for Neville.
During his career, he was outspoken about everything from agents – which he claimed players simply didn’t need – to Liverpool, who he once claimed he couldn’t stand at all. In 2010 he launched an attack on former teammate Carlos Tevez, claiming he wasn’t worth the £25m it would’ve cost Manchester United to keep him – a statement that triggered Tevez to label him a “boot-licking moron”.
Most recently he was completely ruthless when discussing Arsenal’s capitulation against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final – slating the likes of Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey for walking during the game when they were 2-0 down and labelling the Gunners as “spineless”.
#5: Antonio Cassano
He once admitted that eating rich food made him happy and that he was probably 10 kilograms overweight while he was at Real, and also admitted that he may have been addicted to sex, despite “not being handsome”. Perhaps his most legendary quote was when discussing a “private waiter” he had in Madrid who would deliver him pastries after a night of sex – “Sex then food, a perfect night” was the line.
Unfortunately, Cassano’s outspoken nature also landed him in trouble on a few occasions – most notably in 2012 when he was fined by UEFA during Euro 2012 after he stated that he hoped there were no homosexuals alongside him in the Italian squad. Cassano apologised but was fined around £11,679 for the statement.
#6: Romario
When it comes to large egos in football, one name comes to mind over any other and that’s legendary Brazilian striker Romario. The striker scored almost 700 goals in an extensive career that took him all over the world and also helped Brazil to win the World Cup in 1994, but despite all of his accomplishments, his massive ego has cemented his spot as one of the most quotable players of all time.
In 2016 he was asked who he felt were the best five players of all time, and rather than name Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, he stated the best were Zidane, Ronaldo, Maradona, Pele....and himself, of course. He also claimed that when he was born, “God pointed to him and said “you’re the man”, and “I’m like money, at the end of the day everybody quite likes me”.
Famed almost as much for his crazy lifestyle off the pitch as his skills on it, when asked about his clubbing ways he stated that he didn’t score as much when he slept a lot and so that was why he went out a lot, and that like all Brazilians, he loved women and loved going out. In 2013 he made a move into politics – hardly surprising given his outspoken nature.
#7: Roy Keane
One of the most combative midfielders of all time, former Manchester United captain Roy Keane was as outspoken off the field as he was brash and driven on it. It’s hard to even choose where to begin when it comes to his various rants, as he’s hit out at so many players and clubs over the years – from his own teammates at Manchester United to opposing players at Arsenal and even his own fans.
Perhaps his most notorious rant was towards certain fans at United – believed to be fans who were given ‘corporate’ free tickets – as he claimed they were more interested in eating prawn sandwiches than what was going on down on the pitch. But then again, perhaps his tirade towards Ireland manager Mick McCarthy during the 2002 World Cup was more infamous – “you can stick your World Cup up your b*llocks” was the final line.
It would be Keane’s outspoken nature that caused him to leave United in 2005 – according to Keane, he fell out with boss Sir Alex Ferguson after lambasting him over his involvement with horse racing and then questioning the loyalty of Ferguson’s assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.
Since his retirement he’s not mellowed, either – he labelled the lack of trophies in the last decade for Tottenham and Liverpool as “embarrassing” when discussing the two clubs’ performances in the Champions League.
#8: Joey Barton
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!
#9: Dani Alves
One of the world’s most highly rated full-backs, Brazilian Dani Alves is also one of the most surprisingly outspoken players in football today. Part of Pep Guardiola’s famous Barcelona team of the late 2010’s, Alves’s outspoken nature arguably made up for the fact that his illustrious teammates – the likes of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta – usually remained grounded with their success.
Some of his classic quotes? He’s hit out at everyone from Jose Mourinho (“people talk about him as if he invented football – he didn’t”) to Real Madrid (“they will always be there, giving up their ass”) and since moving from Barcelona to Paris St. Germain, he’s targeted French rivals Marseille, claiming “I couldn’t name you a single Marseille player” prior to a recent game between the two.
Surprisingly enough he also lashed out at former club Barca following his 2017 move to Juventus, suggesting they didn’t want him, that the directors of the club had “no idea how to treat their footballers” and that by leaving on a free transfer, he’d “punched them with class”. It was another amazing rant from the Brazilian international, who also stated that he didn’t enjoy fame and success in football only “brought you a fake life”.
#10: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Even if he’d literally never uttered another word during his playing career – which goes back to 1999 with Swedish side Malmo – legendary striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic would probably deserve a spot on this list purely for his classic “Zlatan doesn’t do auditions” line towards Arsene Wenger when Arsenal’s boss offered him a trial back when he was still a relative unknown.
Fortunately for followers of the beautiful game, Ibrahimovic has since come out with some other belters, making him one of the most outspoken – and funniest – players in the game. For the most part, Zlatan loves to talk about himself – he once suggested “the World Cup is nothing without me” following Sweden’s failure to qualify for the 2014 tournament, and even cheekily called himself God while being quizzed by a reporter.
He’s also quite savage about others when he has the chance – he famously labelled Pep Guardiola as a “spineless coward” and “not a man” after the breakdown of their relationship at Barcelona, and when a reporter questioned him on whether he was gay, he fired back “come to my house and you’ll see if I’m gay....and bring your sister”.
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Zlatan can talk trash with the best of them – and almost always backs his words up on the pitch too, making him one of the world’s most entertaining outspoken players.
