The way Hector stayed at FC Köln during their 2 relegations and lead them back into Bundesliga and two european football campaigns makes ihm a faaaar bigger legend than even Lukas Podolski
Hell no! Lukas Podolski was world class... If you don't watch the Bundesliga or pay attention to the DFB, you have no clue who Hector is. Podolski was the young player of the 2006 world cup and had one of the best left footed strikes in the game. But Marco Reus however is the most prime example. Woody The Woodpecker is the top footballer in modern football to stay loyal to his club and their isn't a close second. I love Immobile but he stays with Lazio because of his struggles anywhere else.
@@missenheim91 First I‘m not talkin abt Reus or Immobile. Second I‘m talkin abt Hector as a club legend not abt him being the best footballer of all time. Hector IS a bigger Club legend than Podolski and is considered as the most important player of the last 20 years by Köln fans.
@@missenheim91 There's a difference between being a better player individually and being the bigger club legend. Hector far & beyond is the bigger cologne club legend.
Jaime Vardy of Leicester City. He jointed Championship team Leicester City from a non-league team in 2012 and played there since. Gone through promotion to Premier League, winning the Premier League, and will probably relegated back to Championship with the team next season.
@@ravagethelegend6217 well, athough I admire Vardy, this is the most overplayed nonsense argumetn ever used, and it is used all the time. By your logic, you cannot summarize and criticise any player, cause they are all better than you. It applies to anything. Surgeon would make a bad surgery, you ended up with permanent damage. But you cannot criticise it, cause he is better doctor than you.
It's not like he would have had the option to play at an absolute top club with his crazy injury proneness. He missed almost all international tournaments with the DFB team and countless matches for Dortmund.
@@HITCSevens he said his family wanted more time with him and he wanted to rid himself of the stress every weekend and instead do some work in his garden and later go and watch in the stadium. Many expected him to extend as cologne are facing a transfer ban for a youth team transfer which was not in line w uefa regulations or so. Now they will have to play with katterbach maybe next ssn.
@@murko0078 oh I didn't notice, I thought he would just return from his loan, but ig they have other options anyway, but maybe they even have to play wagner, I don't think it will go that far tho
Jonas Hector is somewhat of a legend, not just in Cologne, but in Germany as a whole. He is ending his career this season. When asked whether or not he considers himself a thoroughly happy professional, his answer is: "When I think back to everything, I must say: No." But he further elaborates that proportionally, the positives outweigh the negatives. His explanation for his departure from professional football is: "I don't want to feel as though I am constantly struggling for my life. On Saturdays, I want to devote myself to gardening and afterwards I want to stroll to the stadium and observe things from a neutral standpoint." His last match will be against Bayern, where Cologne have a chance to help Dortmund, with whom they have a fan friendship, win the Bundesliga title for the first time in 10 years.
The most loyal player: Francesco Totti, started in the youth system at Roma and played his entire career for them as well. Was wanted by many clubs throughout Europe and never left his hometown club.
Ik he's retired and not even a footballer but Arsene Wenger embodies loyalty in football for me. He had some of the most coveted managerial positions offered to him and he turned them down to stay at Arsenal because he felt he had to make the stadium move work out ❤
Wenger? Loyal? The guy that since he got his job at FIFA is selling out and trying to ruin football so FIFA can squeeze even more money from players and clubs? That guy?
Wenger was NEVER good enough to move to a big club, so no one wanting him DOESN'T make him loyal. He was finishes after 2004, going 9 YEARS without a trophy! But...but..but.. he had the stadium to pay for.... If Wenger was so good at finding cheap young players (Anelka, Viera, Fabregas) why didn't he do that during the stadium years??? I'll wait. The truth is, Wenger was overrated and in 21 seasons in the Champions League ONLY got to 1 final and as soon as the Premier League stopped being a 2 horse race, he failed to win anymore. Wenger is THE most overrated manager in history!
On the topic of loyal left backs I think Christian Günter also deserves a shoutout. He is playing for SC Freiburg since 2012 is also playing in the German national team and until 2 weeks ago didn't miss a single minute of Bundesliga football in 4 years. He is not as versatile as Hector, but im sure there was interest of bigger clubs that wanted a defesively reliable left back, since Freiburg is doing well with top 6 finishes the last years.
Statwise kinda similar now that i looked up their caps. Same position, both captain, both went through getting relegated and promotion with their club, both at 300+ caps for their respective club. Both had unreal impact and deserve nothing but praise (and a statue lol)
As a Dortmund fan, I am not sure If Marco would have stayed so long where it not for the catastrophical injuries he faced. He was a key player for the WC 14 and missed it, misses EU16, missed. Yet he could have choosen another, easier way, like PSG or join a Oil Club for the end of his carrier. In 2015 we had extreme struggles and he signed a new contract with us. He was just so unfortunate to join us after our 2 glory years but I’d sacrifice everything just to see him win a championship with us but it doesn’t matter how the story ends, he will always be the idol of my youth, a Dortmund fan living in Bavaria.
Day 6: 7 Best Loan moves ever. The loan moves that have greatly benefited the team receiving the player for a limited amount of time. While not exactly the best, I always think of Morientes to Monaco as an example. I think loyalty should only be warranted if the team is loyal to you. If the team isn't going to sell you at the first opportunity
Edgar Davids at Barca is what comes to mind. Without him in the autumn, they were threatened by relegation. With him from January, they've qualified for the Champions League.
Agreed. Seamus always comes to mind when talking about club loyalty. I would give Dunc an honourable mention. I imagine Seamus will stay on into coaching and management with us when he retires as well. Even if he doesn't he remains a legend and will always have my respect.
I will say about Horta, last summer the main transfer saga in Portugal was Horta to Benfica, and he was pressuring for a move, it mostly didn't happen because Braga doesn't want to pay Málaga their share of the transfer, they just want the full amount, so it was quite messy and went down to the wire. And I will add to that, the second that transfer didn't happen, Horta dropped his grievances and focussed on the football.
@@akunwanneprosper7016 yes, but at the same time once the opportunity was lost he got back to work loyally, he was fine with something that many players would have rebelled against
He wanted to join Benfica (his boyhood club) but didn't want to cause any issues in Braga. If the clubs reached an agreement, great. If not, he would also be happy to stay since he feels honor bound to the president and the club for revitalizing his career.
Hector has to rank higher, imagine playing 2nd division instead of starting for champions leaugue clubs which was absolutely realistic for years. All while being the first choice left back of the current world cups winners at the time. What he gave up to stay loyal to cologne is undefeated
Alfie mentioned Igor Akinfeev in the Honourable mentions of the Top 7 Goalkeepers of 21st century, so he could make the first spots of this list (this intro was written because I thought that Alfie could ban Russian players from making it to the lists). He's been loyal to CSKA ever since he had joined their academy in 1991, which is more than 30 years ago. He's been capped 540 times by the club, and the important thing is that he was in demand after great performance on Euro 2008. For example, he was in Alex Ferguson's shortlist for a Van Der Sar substitution in MU. He's probably been not as close to joining European grands as some other footballers, but it's an omission not to include him in the list.
Francesco Totti and Ledley King, both at Roma and spurs respectively, popped in my mind when it comes to club loyalty, and Seamus Coleman at Everton as well.
Ledley King would have probably failed medicals had he moved clubs!!He had a knee problem throughout his career so any transfer would have probably failed!!
Not even a mention about Koke? It's not like no one wanted to sign him from Atletico, and he stayed with the club for his entire career... And no, Atleti is not like Barcelona or Bayern Munich, lots of players left Atleti to win more trophies. EDIT: I am very sad that GOAT Hector is retiring from football, it's literally the last moment ot include him in this video.
Rejecting Bayern Munich to play in the 2nd tear of the Bundesliga is certainly true dedication i mean even Dortmund often end up selling their best players to Bayern and they are usually the 2nd best team in Germany so for someone to turn their nose up at Bayern Munich like that is very highly unusual
Borussia doesn't sell players "often" to Bayern - last player Borussia sold to Bayern was Hummels in 2016 - since that time Borussia BUYS players from Bayern: Hummels, Rode and Sule (free transfer)
@@ChrispiChicken I was talking about incoming players from big clubs like bayern. Dortmund would not and never be able to buy a promising youngster from bayern.
@@Gri77ly bellingham? Adeyemi? Haaland? Dembele? Sancho? Lewy? Reyna? Malen? These were all players Dortmund bought when they were young and promising, and made them great and made profit, to say Dortmund only buys old players is ignorant
Maybe the best. He was never injured for a long time, got offers from the biggest clubs from all over the world and always rejected them. A great and loyal superstar!
@zoark5743 Since when? I am from Bavaria and I never heard that. Not even from our club bosses. There are many clubs that are so much richer than us. How can we be the favorite then?
a documentary of Borussia Dortmund and how they were extremely close to bankruptcy in 2002 time and how Bayern had to save them. The extreme difficulties the club has had to manage within to get back to where they are #thepeopleschannel
Bayern did not save them. They gave them 2 million when they needed 40ish million to deal with their shit. It was a great gesture, but they did NOT save them
Jonas Hector is retiring at the end of the season. He's the greatest one club man in recent Bundesliga history except for maybe Thomas Müller. I'd easily have him ahead of Marco Reus in this list.
Shame he couldn't be loyal to his first club Real Sociedad. The transfer caused Real to break off any relations between them and Athletic. It was really controversial at the time.
@@gerardmchugh9609 Stayed Basque for what its worth, La Real have the rep for being the better development team. I get the feeling that while not completely confected, most Basque rivalries are not as intense as their combined disdain for those outside their cantera.
Respect for all of them, especially for Reus, and the forgotten captain of beloved Everton, Seamus Coleman. Seamus came from Sligo Rovers to Everton and has played there since January 2009.
Gaya is impressive But Dani Parejo even more Real Madrid and especially Barcelona went for him every year,with him refusing wanting to be a club legend At one of his highest moments Lim basically kicked him out. The photo of him winning the Copa del Rey Vs Barcelona was removed, which lead to an uproar by the fans
The biggest example of loyalty i ever felt in play ( but he is retired since a few years ) , was Franscesco Totti. A real football genius who played for AS Roma. He could have gone to ANY top club at any given moment and have become part of the row, Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, Ronaldinho, etc..., but he stayed loyal till the very end, when he retired in his forties.
Timo Horn should have got a mention alongside Hector. At the time he was a decent keeper and could easily have left Köln when relegated but stayed along with Hector
Here to spam you with the fact that Indonesia had one Loyal footballer that unfortunately passed away mid game : Choirul Huda Despite various offers from other teams, Choirul always chose Persela Lamongan and never looked elsewhere. Rest in Peace.
Hiya Sean, Matthew LeTissier was only on £1,500 per week, he could of easily doubled or even trebled what he was getting at Southampton, an absolute wasted talent, and He was a jinxed player against Newcastle
I know he is a scum legend but I agree with you here that Matt Le Tissier was one of the most loyal footballers ever. He is to Southampton what Alan Knight and Jimmy Dickinson were to Pompey, I will always respect that about him.
Seamus Coleman - at Everton for 14 years, rejected offers from United and Bayern Leighton Baines - at Everton for 13 years, rejected multiple offers from United
Not a modern player, but perhaps one of the most loyal player to his club worthy of mention is the late Uwe Seeler. He's had offers to go to other clubs in his time, but he always stayed faithful to his HSV. Anyone going to the Volksparkstadion will also get to a statue of Uwe Seeler's foot in front of the arena. He did interrupt his retirement once to play a single match for Cork United in Ireland, but that was more of a commercial thing organised by Adidas. Apparently, back in the day, you could have guest players play one-off official matches in the Irish football league.
Cristhian Stuani. Had the chance to leave for Barcelona, but decided to stay at Girona in the second tier. Now he is the all-time-topscorer by a lot with more than 100 goals. Back in the first tier now as a pinchhitter while Girona are in the race for European football. Legend.
That pinch hitter analogy is actually great … stuani plays when dovbyk either needs a rest or it’s like a2-1 lead with 20 to go ..they know stuani will hold the ball up well in the final third
Finally someone who rates gaya, he is truly world class, the fact that people wanted balde to play over him at the world cup shows how underrated he is
I want to spend a word about Inter legend Javier Zanetti. He came to Inter from Argentina very young (22yo) and was one of the best fullbacks of the world for a decade at least and he stayed with Inter through really harsh times. He played with the club 858 official matches in 19 seasons, thanks to his dedication and hard work he was able to keep himself fit and still be in the first team as Inter won the treble in 2010 at the age of 37. It was reported that on his marriage day he left after the ceremony to go training in the afternoon. And now he is the vice president the club. Zanetti earned the respect of every football fan in Italy, even Inter's harshest rivals supporters.
While this is true and definitely a player worth mentioning, he was technically signed by Juve and has said that he has tried to find a move away from the club which isn't really loyalty
@@rorybessell8280 yeah but did he move? He could've always not sign new contracts and go away for free Looking at how much better he is from all of his teammates.... But i understand your point
Harry Kane at Spurs can you imagine his trophy cabinet now if he had decided to leave one of the many times that he had the opportunity to do so but he's always stuck by Spurs even though its cost him success now thats pure dedication
It's disgraceful the amount of disrespect Harry gets. Everyone piles in on Spurs being s***, whilst conversely not giving him credit for managing to close in on the all time scoring record, passing Rooney, whilst playing on such a perennially poor side.
@@kellijones6481 Checkmate 😆...Well done, yes, that's a popular meme, and also has absolutely nothing to do with the individual achievements I mentioned. Your comment is unwittingly the perfect example of the kind of idiotic attitudes that Kane garners.
Jose Gaya is really the best example of this. He might actually be the one to break the Valencia captain which holds that every player that captains Valencia for one season ends up being sold. It's a curse that claimed even Carlos Soler whom I was pretty sure would never leave Mestalla.
I wanted to mention Paul McStay, a fantastic midfielder for Celtic Football Club. at a time when it wasn't going well with Celtic this man was Captain and Fan favourite. Many clubs enquired of his services....but it always ended in disappointment for them. It's fair to say that more gifted players have played for the club.....but none more loved and respected than Paul. I grew up watching this team in the late eighties, and early nineties.......hard going indeed. Paul was always the best player on the pitch with an incredible brain and technique. If it's true, Celtic fielded many enquireries about his availability for transfer.
As someone already mentioned Hector announced his retirement a few weeks ago. There is a video of him telling the team after a game in a speech followed by the whole team blasting out a song about „Someday coming back where we all grew up, so our kids can be born in Cologne“
Maldini from AC Mailan is the most loyal player in football for me,started there as a kid ,won everything and retired with grace,Totti is 2nd at AS Rom
Zaha at palace for sure. When he went to Utd he demanded a loan back, and when he didn’t get a second loan back to us and was sent to Cardiff, he left utd . He signed a 5 year deal when he could’ve easily left to a big club. One of the most loyal players out there, probably too loyal
@@BowmanHath31 As a Palace fan this is very true, but at least he's shown loyalty by not protesting/refusing to play or train. So while he definitely has wanted a move, he's been loyal and respectful by modern standards.
I Think you missed Igor akinfeev from CSKA Moscow. A worldclass keeper who always sticked with his boyhoodclub, and never left for one of europes giants.
Rhyan Grant has played with Sydney FC since 2008, which is his only professional club. Winning numerous titles along the way. Leigh Broxham made his debut with Melbourne Victory in 2006 and, amazingly, he is still at the club - winning 4 league titles along the way.
Broxham is the type of squad player every team would love to have in spades, never figures in the first 11 at the start of the season, somehow always ends up with the armband by the end. Has played almost every position. 15 plus seasons, rinse & repeat...
What about Lucas Pérez my friend. Dude paid half million from his own pocket and got relegated 2 divisions to play for his hometown club at Deportivo La Coruña!
Great video as always, but I must say Koke should've at least gotten an honourable mention alongside Oblak. He came up through Atleti's ranks as a youth player, earned a spot in the first team, rejected clubs as big as Juventus or Barcelona when he was in his prime, and went on to captain his childhood team and become Atleti's player with most appearances in history. As a one club Man who would probably have a Champions League medal if he had left for Barcelona but decided to stay at the club he loved instead, becoming a legend in the meantime, I think he should've been included. Good video regardless, keep up the good work.
Possibly not the biggest name in world football, but, a man of my club, Callum McGregor I feel is worth a shout here, there’s been reports through the years of deals being offered but he’s never seemed to have entertained even one. Our manager Ange even recently commented on his unwavering dedication in an interview, the man lives and breathes Celtic
Last year Horta actually said goodbye to Braga's supporters but it seems that the deal didn't go thru. I wouldn't call him loyal, he just has a really weird contract.
@@MalteeeeeeeHe literally waved the fans goodbye in one of the games in the begining of the season, when rumours of a benfica transfer were strongest, so pretty hard to argue he denied the offer, it only failed due to Braga not wanting to pay malaga a sell on clause. Since the deal fell through tho he renewed and is presumably staying
@@Malteeeeeee he rejected the offer from the MLS, but he definitely accepted benficas offer (he’s a benfica academy graduate and a lifelong benfica fan tho, so it’s totally understandable him wanting to move at the peak of his game)
Lewis Dunk should have at least gotten an honorouble mention imo. He's from Brighton and has played his whole professional career for Brighton & Hove Albion (apart from a brief loan spell to Bristol City) from when they were all the way back in League One to now, where they might qualify for Europe. He even spent most of his youth career at the club, joining it when he was only 12 years old.
Basque loyalty gets into absurd release clauses such as Oscar de Marcos 999 million Euro release clause since expired. and the Iker Muniain 0 euro clause where the player just refuses all offers. As in Oscar's was completely unrealistic but showed how much he didn't want to leave Athletic Club.
You can find such players everywhere. Have a look at Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United or Celtic Glasgow. This has nothing to do with nationality and family.
Manuel Rui Costa never wanted to leave Benfica either but the club was close to bankruptcy and almost joined Barcelona but joined last second bid Florentina instead because they offered the highest bid just to help Benfica. Then he didn't leave Fiorentina until they were on the brink of bankruptcy and joined AC Milan.
Gianpaolo Bellini? Started in the Atalanta Youth ranks, got his first team start in 1998 and went on to play 396 games before retiring as team captain, moving in to backroom becomign a Youth Coach in the organization where he started his career.
Hot take: People only label footballers as "loyal" when they have a capability to choose the better team but choose to stay in a team that's not as good as them. For example, Marco Reus at Dortmund, Steven Gerrard at Liverpool, Totti at Roma, De Gea at United or Kane at Spurs. If said player was great and the team was as great, then nobody would consider them to be loyal. For example, Messi at Barcelona or Thomas Mueller at Bayern Munich.
it's not a hot take, because you clearly dont know what the term loyalty means. In order to be loyal, your loyalty has to be checked, which means in this context getting an offer for something that seems to be on its face value more benefitial for you career. For example you can't be loyal if no one other wants you, loyalty will never be checked that way and if you are already at a top club, what else is there to be loyal about outside of money?!
Messi being loyal to barcelona is the biggest pr campaign I've seen in modern football, after Neymar left he pressurized Barcelona to make big signings like dembele and Coutinho which failed, he has always had a say in their transfer signings. Then when he saw that Barca were in financial trouble, he make several unreasonable demands like private jet for his family/big agent fees for his dad and brother/a small release clause so he can leave any time he want. He very well knew that Barça will not be able to fulfill his demands and jumped ship to PSG for a big paycheck while doing that publicity stunt with crying at his farewell. Before you say he does not care about money let me tell you he is the only football player who is getting paid by two gulf states at the same time (Qatar via PSG and Saudi Arabia via tourism ambassador) he is the biggest mercenary in modern football with millions pumped in his PR to make him look humble.
@@shadowfell_21 Facts. You put these words right out of my mouth. Been saying these things for years, but the problem that most football fans (Messi and Ronaldo fans especially) are so braindead and reject the reality even when all the clues are provided. I've been asking them if Messi is such a fan of Barcelona, then why didn't he helped his home club by reducing his own wages, and instead he and his family were pushing to Barcelona to give him more money? And if he's a fan of football, then why did he join PSG instead of, for example, Olympique de Marseillle, or Inter Milan? Thanks for speaking sense, mate. It means a lot.
I think people underestimate how much being happy and settled somewhere is important for some players - especially if their family live, work and go to achool in the area as well. For some I think it the most important thing in the world.
What has Coventry City done to be ignored by you in every video? Robbie Keane said he was a lifelong fan when he joined them as well. You should also do a video on what happened to the Sky Blues and why they don’t own their own stadium after selling Highfield Road to developers.
What? The video is about loyal players. Also Robbie Keane never said that, except in jest. He’s a well known boyhood Celtic fan and discussed it many times.
In February 2015 Reus even prematurely renewed his contract for two more years until 2019 when Dortmund were sitting in a relegation spot by the winterbreak during Klopp's last year.
Iker Muniain and Inaki Williams at Athletic Club also would belong, but then the list would be way too La Liga heavy as the players in Spain seem to be afraid of moving elsewhere and ending up on the bench. Muniain has a 0 release clause yet refuses all offers as he intend to retire in Bilbao while Williams has the Oyarzabal method of raising his release clause every time then walking away.
There was always an air of class every time he touched the ball at Liverpool. I always liked him even tho he couldn't live up to his expectations. Aspas could have proved otherwise if the coaches at Liverpool played him right. He could have for sure got us 1 or 2 league titles. I'm happy you're a legend now.
Potential Documentary on the clubs who were rumoured to be bought by a particular person/entity and the ramifications of them not being purchased (both negative and positive) please xoxo
Ok this idea is great, we have a lot of coverage of actual selling due to better paper trail, but those failed stories are as interesting and we (the public) don't know a lot of what happened
Being a loyal player isn't supposed to be the norm but the exception. That's why they're so praised, especially if they play in an average team. It works in anything, even our jobs. No one should be loyal to a job where you can be replaced within a week.
Kane to Man City was only ever a thing in the pages of the Sun. To my knowledge, the "gentlemen's agreement" that supposedly existed between Kane and Levy was that if an offer _acceptable to Daniel Levy_ came in then he would allow Kane to leave. Rumour was that Levy was looking for £150 million but probably would have allowed himself to be beaten down to £120 million. As far as I am aware, Man City came in with a bid of £70 million and after Levy turned it down, they never came back. Instead they went and splashed £100 million on Jack Grealish. Given that nobody considered Grealish worth more than half that sum and that you could hear jaws hitting the floor from Lands End to John O'Groats when the transfer fee was made known, it follows that any interest in Harry Kane was lukewarm at best. Pep Guardiola certainly didn't seem all that bothered in press conferences at the time answering the question with something along the lines of, "Well, if they'll sell him to us, we'll take him but it's up to them."
Reus' one isn't that unusual just because he didn't start his professional career at Dortmund. You say he was born in the city, so as a kid he more than likely supported Dortmund and will have family that support them too. So it's not that unusual he is loyal to Dortmund if they're the team he grew up supporting.
@Davie Bananas I said professional career not career as a whole. Yes he was at Dortmund before but for the youth teams. Didn't break through into first teams until he was at Rot Weiss Ahlen.
@@S050683 Who judges humans based on that though. The argument is he had a love for Dortmund as they were the first club he played for and represented for 10 years, before stepping down and playing for lesser teams, only to succeed and return to his boyhood club.
For some of these players, being loyal to their team was a way to safeguard their own consistency and success. People use “system player” as a pejorative term but in reality, it’s better to be cognizant of your reliance on a certain system than to go elsewhere and expose your weaknesses with another incompatible system. Ciro Immobile and Marco Reus are prime examples of this tendency. Jonas Hector is going to retire as one of the most consistent players in Bundesliga history solely because he consistently met his expectations at Koln.
Great video, but you forgot to add Igor Akinfeev. He's totally one of the most loyal players in the world, to be honest. He decided to stay in his favorite team, CSKA Moscow till he stops playing. Yes, he's a goalkeeper, but he plays his entire career (20 years) for this team and he's still good at the age of 37 and he won a lot of trophies with the team including UEFA Cup in 2005 when he was 19
well there is an loyal player that used to be like and hatred at some point in 2015 until 2018 in Portugal,Luisao was playing at Benfica and been loyal from 2003 until 2018,he rejected to signed with Real Madrid in 2004 and PSG in 2011 just to stay at Benfica
Christan Günter from SC Freiburg is the first name that jumps me to mind, beeing a SCF fan hardly surprising😅 Günter is also a german left back and a one club man. I'd love to see a video from about the SC Freiburg, please please please!
Karim Benzema deserves a spot on this list. You never hear about him or his agent talking about his transfer, salary etc. He has kept his head down since he joined Real Madrid and never complained about anything, ever!
@@sweatyhaggis4303 Tell that to Casemiro, Ronaldo, Higuain, Ozil, Di Maria, Robben, Sneijder etc. etc. Real Madrid might dominate UCL for years, but you've to admit that they don't offer the same wages as English clubs. Fun fact: Benzema earns lesser than a flop like Sancho.
Does Jordan Henderson not deserve a place on this list (or at least in the honourable mentions)? Been at the club since 2011 and joined when they were at their worst in a very long time and finished outside the top 4 for the first 4 out of 5 seasons he was there. Not to mention he’s played over 350 games for the club as well
Nothing compares to having a Loyal player like those in your club. As a Roma fan all my respects for Il Capitano Francesco Totti and also to Daniele De Rossi that really could've played anywhere in Europe but chose to stay in Roma
These are the respective footballers whom I have been and must be extremely so respectful daily and ever in this world and other planets,good friends!!!I am surely confident that mainly Jose Gaya would finish his career at his boyhood Valencia(one of my favourites ever) and be idolised as the icon of the footballing team,just like the other respective inclusions,good friends!!!LONG LIVES RESPECTIVELY TO ALL OF THEM AND FOOTBALL IS MAINLY ABOUT PASSION,LOYALTY AND RESPECT,GOOD FRIENDS!!!:-D
On point early about loyalty. Fans moan about players lack of loyalty to clubs, but the clubs themselves are extremely cutthroat and business-like these days. It goes both ways.'
Guys Gabriel Batistuta was a top striker in the best league in the 90's and he was relegated with fiorentina and brought them back up without a mention so its a very selective "opinion" the boy has. Don't get bent out of shape cos your favourite player wasn't mentioned. Think of a video that could be made with your fav player in it and pitch the idea. The boy does his homework very well in these videos and from what I can see, is very open to ideas.
@@daviebananas1735 Batistuta was sold son so fiorentina could make money cos he was old and very unfit. Why do you think they love him so much? No world class striker goes down a division unless they're committed. Check out what price he fetched then check out what quality of life he had afterwards
@@paulgetgood3534 I don’t think you get the point of MOST loyal. Regardless of his reasons for moving between clubs many times, it hardly pinpoints him as the MOST loyal player of all time
@@daviebananas1735 son I don't think you get it! How many world class footballers have wen't to the lower divisions to bring their club back to where they belong? I understand what you mean but being Scottish and absolutely loving Gabriel Batistuta for being as good as he was doesn't deserve any negativaty lol
@@daviebananas1735 I don't know if you don't like batigoal but I love football players who make the game look good. Alan shearer is one of my favourite players of all time. Zizu is prob my fav with crazy canto my second fav so we obviously look at the world differently but it still doesn't take away from Paul Mullin lol
Alfie, you should do a series of videos that looks at the best football player born on each day of the year broken up into 12 videos one for each month. You could release the videos over an entire year with videos releasing on the first of their respective months to spread the videos out as well.
So let me get this straight busquets and Muller don't count because they are at successful clubs even though they've only played for one club, but players that have played for multiple clubs are loyal? Makes sense
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The way Hector stayed at FC Köln during their 2 relegations and lead them back into Bundesliga and two european football campaigns makes ihm a faaaar bigger legend than even Lukas Podolski
Same with Timo Horn too
The true fußbol gott
Hell no! Lukas Podolski was world class... If you don't watch the Bundesliga or pay attention to the DFB, you have no clue who Hector is. Podolski was the young player of the 2006 world cup and had one of the best left footed strikes in the game. But Marco Reus however is the most prime example. Woody The Woodpecker is the top footballer in modern football to stay loyal to his club and their isn't a close second. I love Immobile but he stays with Lazio because of his struggles anywhere else.
@@missenheim91 First I‘m not talkin abt Reus or Immobile.
Second I‘m talkin abt Hector as a club legend not abt him being the best footballer of all time.
Hector IS a bigger Club legend than Podolski and is considered as the most important player of the last 20 years by Köln fans.
@@missenheim91 There's a difference between being a better player individually and being the bigger club legend. Hector far & beyond is the bigger cologne club legend.
Jaime Vardy of Leicester City. He jointed Championship team Leicester City from a non-league team in 2012 and played there since. Gone through promotion to Premier League, winning the Premier League, and will probably relegated back to Championship with the team next season.
he got relegated this season lmao
Imfao. Vardy gonna play farmers league soon.
@@babuseth2318 bruh he still done more than people like you will ever achieve in a 100 lifetimes. Think about that lmfao
@@ravagethelegend6217 well, athough I admire Vardy, this is the most overplayed nonsense argumetn ever used, and it is used all the time. By your logic, you cannot summarize and criticise any player, cause they are all better than you. It applies to anything. Surgeon would make a bad surgery, you ended up with permanent damage. But you cannot criticise it, cause he is better doctor than you.
@@MartinSedaCerrá el oio Martincito
Marco Reus always staying at Dortmund is probably the biggest loyalty example in modern football
For me it'll always be Totti.
It's not like he would have had the option to play at an absolute top club with his crazy injury proneness. He missed almost all international tournaments with the DFB team and countless matches for Dortmund.
No it’s got to be Gerrard
@@MrReese wdym every big club was in for him at one point or the other
Not at all. Not even close actually
Hector actually surprisingly announced his retirement about a week or so ago
Legend 👑
Damn, I missed that. There seems to be a bit of a theme of German full-backs retiring fairly young.
@@HITCSevens he said his family wanted more time with him and he wanted to rid himself of the stress every weekend and instead do some work in his garden and later go and watch in the stadium. Many expected him to extend as cologne are facing a transfer ban for a youth team transfer which was not in line w uefa regulations or so. Now they will have to play with katterbach maybe next ssn.
@@redchampion Katterbach tore his ACL a couple of weeks ago. He might not return until next year
@@murko0078 oh I didn't notice, I thought he would just return from his loan, but ig they have other options anyway, but maybe they even have to play wagner, I don't think it will go that far tho
Akinfeev deserved at least an honourable mention in my opinion, in fact he could have even been the first spot imo
Jonas Hector is somewhat of a legend, not just in Cologne, but in Germany as a whole. He is ending his career this season.
When asked whether or not he considers himself a thoroughly happy professional, his answer is: "When I think back to everything, I must say: No." But he further elaborates that proportionally, the positives outweigh the negatives.
His explanation for his departure from professional football is: "I don't want to feel as though I am constantly struggling for my life. On Saturdays, I want to devote myself to gardening and afterwards I want to stroll to the stadium and observe things from a neutral standpoint."
His last match will be against Bayern, where Cologne have a chance to help Dortmund, with whom they have a fan friendship, win the Bundesliga title for the first time in 10 years.
Timo Horn as well
The most loyal player: Francesco Totti, started in the youth system at Roma and played his entire career for them as well. Was wanted by many clubs throughout Europe and never left his hometown club.
Del Pierro and Buffon stayed with a relegated Juventus after winning the world cup in 2006.
Yup, but Buffon wasn’t Juventus youth academy graduate plus he left for PSG. Totti is another level
Ik he's retired and not even a footballer but Arsene Wenger embodies loyalty in football for me. He had some of the most coveted managerial positions offered to him and he turned them down to stay at Arsenal because he felt he had to make the stadium move work out ❤
Wenger? Loyal? The guy that since he got his job at FIFA is selling out and trying to ruin football so FIFA can squeeze even more money from players and clubs? That guy?
Wenger was NEVER good enough to move to a big club, so no one wanting him DOESN'T make him loyal.
He was finishes after 2004, going 9 YEARS without a trophy!
But...but..but.. he had the stadium to pay for....
If Wenger was so good at finding cheap young players (Anelka, Viera, Fabregas) why didn't he do that during the stadium years???
I'll wait.
The truth is, Wenger was overrated and in 21 seasons in the Champions League ONLY got to 1 final and as soon as the Premier League stopped being a 2 horse race, he failed to win anymore.
Wenger is THE most overrated manager in history!
@@Viewer41
L take
@@Viewer41 he coulda went to madrid
@@Viewer41 He was wanted by plenty of clubs. He notably turned down PSG multiple times, the French national team and Madrid.
On the topic of loyal left backs I think Christian Günter also deserves a shoutout. He is playing for SC Freiburg since 2012 is also playing in the German national team and until 2 weeks ago didn't miss a single minute of Bundesliga football in 4 years. He is not as versatile as Hector, but im sure there was interest of bigger clubs that wanted a defesively reliable left back, since Freiburg is doing well with top 6 finishes the last years.
Statwise kinda similar now that i looked up their caps. Same position, both captain, both went through getting relegated and promotion with their club, both at 300+ caps for their respective club. Both had unreal impact and deserve nothing but praise (and a statue lol)
As a Dortmund fan, I am not sure If Marco would have stayed so long where it not for the catastrophical injuries he faced. He was a key player for the WC 14 and missed it, misses EU16, missed. Yet he could have choosen another, easier way, like PSG or join a Oil Club for the end of his carrier. In 2015 we had extreme struggles and he signed a new contract with us. He was just so unfortunate to join us after our 2 glory years but I’d sacrifice everything just to see him win a championship with us but it doesn’t matter how the story ends, he will always be the idol of my youth, a Dortmund fan living in Bavaria.
Looks like he will win the title this season which is great for him
Another Dortmund fan living in Bavaria here, this season he will finally win the title and noone in the Bundesliga deserves it more than him
@@bezzer1562not unless dortmund bottle it like Arsenal.
@@h.r.169 well then…
@@bezzer1562 🪦
Day 6: 7 Best Loan moves ever.
The loan moves that have greatly benefited the team receiving the player for a limited amount of time. While not exactly the best, I always think of Morientes to Monaco as an example.
I think loyalty should only be warranted if the team is loyal to you. If the team isn't going to sell you at the first opportunity
Edgar Davids at Barca is what comes to mind. Without him in the autumn, they were threatened by relegation. With him from January, they've qualified for the Champions League.
@@andrasszabo1570 You are the second person already who suggested this one. It's certainly up there
Henrik Larsson to United, becks to Milan
Seamus coleman comes to mind when I think of loyalty, been at Everton for 14 years now, rejected moves from Bayern Munich and Manchester united
What a player
Bainsey too
and lewis dunk
That’s one of the reasons I bought a kit with his name on it. He’s also the last of the old guard under David Moyes.
Agreed. Seamus always comes to mind when talking about club loyalty. I would give Dunc an honourable mention. I imagine Seamus will stay on into coaching and management with us when he retires as well. Even if he doesn't he remains a legend and will always have my respect.
I will say about Horta, last summer the main transfer saga in Portugal was Horta to Benfica, and he was pressuring for a move, it mostly didn't happen because Braga doesn't want to pay Málaga their share of the transfer, they just want the full amount, so it was quite messy and went down to the wire. And I will add to that, the second that transfer didn't happen, Horta dropped his grievances and focussed on the football.
So he wasn't loyal then 😏
@@akunwanneprosper7016 yes, but at the same time once the opportunity was lost he got back to work loyally, he was fine with something that many players would have rebelled against
@@bentn13 At least remained professional.
He wanted to join Benfica (his boyhood club) but didn't want to cause any issues in Braga. If the clubs reached an agreement, great. If not, he would also be happy to stay since he feels honor bound to the president and the club for revitalizing his career.
Hector has to rank higher, imagine playing 2nd division instead of starting for champions leaugue clubs which was absolutely realistic for years. All while being the first choice left back of the current world cups winners at the time. What he gave up to stay loyal to cologne is undefeated
BTW, Horta is also Braga's top scorer.
It shows that if you stay loyal, no club record is too far away for the best players
Yeah, like Kane too
Alfie mentioned Igor Akinfeev in the Honourable mentions of the Top 7 Goalkeepers of 21st century, so he could make the first spots of this list (this intro was written because I thought that Alfie could ban Russian players from making it to the lists).
He's been loyal to CSKA ever since he had joined their academy in 1991, which is more than 30 years ago.
He's been capped 540 times by the club, and the important thing is that he was in demand after great performance on Euro 2008. For example, he was in Alex Ferguson's shortlist for a Van Der Sar substitution in MU.
He's probably been not as close to joining European grands as some other footballers, but it's an omission not to include him in the list.
Francesco Totti and Ledley King, both at Roma and spurs respectively, popped in my mind when it comes to club loyalty, and Seamus Coleman at Everton as well.
Ledley King would have probably failed medicals had he moved clubs!!He had a knee problem throughout his career so any transfer would have probably failed!!
@@Poolie77 I see your point there m8
Not even a mention about Koke? It's not like no one wanted to sign him from Atletico, and he stayed with the club for his entire career... And no, Atleti is not like Barcelona or Bayern Munich, lots of players left Atleti to win more trophies. EDIT: I am very sad that GOAT Hector is retiring from football, it's literally the last moment ot include him in this video.
Iam suprised that nobody even mentioned koke. Im scrolling down the comments just for koke
Rejecting Bayern Munich to play in the 2nd tear of the Bundesliga is certainly true dedication i mean even Dortmund often end up selling their best players to Bayern and they are usually the 2nd best team in Germany so for someone to turn their nose up at Bayern Munich like that is very highly unusual
Borussia doesn't sell players "often" to Bayern - last player Borussia sold to Bayern was Hummels in 2016 - since that time Borussia BUYS players from Bayern: Hummels, Rode and Sule (free transfer)
@@RomaInvicta202 But the players Dortmund bring in are older compared to the outgoing players who are young and have huge potential
@@Gri77ly lmao no, dortmund have alot of young players coming in, they know how to scout and train them
@@ChrispiChicken I was talking about incoming players from big clubs like bayern. Dortmund would not and never be able to buy a promising youngster from bayern.
@@Gri77ly bellingham? Adeyemi? Haaland? Dembele? Sancho? Lewy? Reyna? Malen? These were all players Dortmund bought when they were young and promising, and made them great and made profit, to say Dortmund only buys old players is ignorant
I think Thomas Muller is a great example of loyalty
Maybe the best. He was never injured for a long time, got offers from the biggest clubs from all over the world and always rejected them. A great and loyal superstar!
I mean it's pretty easy to be loyal to a club when they're winning trophies every year.
@@Noobie2k7 Come on. Bayern is never one of the top favorites to win the UCL. He got offers from richer clubs a lot.
@@jimboninho WTF Bayern is the only top favorite to win the UCL
@zoark5743 Since when? I am from Bavaria and I never heard that. Not even from our club bosses. There are many clubs that are so much richer than us. How can we be the favorite then?
a documentary of Borussia Dortmund and how they were extremely close to bankruptcy in 2002 time and how Bayern had to save them. The extreme difficulties the club has had to manage within to get back to where they are #thepeopleschannel
They paid a month of wages relax
Bayern did not save them. They gave them 2 million when they needed 40ish million to deal with their shit. It was a great gesture, but they did NOT save them
@@riley-ke6qk it is a interesting story Riley
They paid 2 from 30m of debt but it was a very nice gesture
@@redchampion true
Jonas Hector is retiring at the end of the season. He's the greatest one club man in recent Bundesliga history except for maybe Thomas Müller. I'd easily have him ahead of Marco Reus in this list.
Berardi has to be here, he's levels above his club but he's never left.
One of my favourite ever footballers is Joseba Etxeberria - not only technically brilliant, but his loyalty to Athletic Club (Bilbao) was incredible.
Shame he couldn't be loyal to his first club Real Sociedad. The transfer caused Real to break off any relations between them and Athletic. It was really controversial at the time.
He betrayed his boyhood club Real Sociedad for money, he's nothing but a traitor.
@@gerardmchugh9609 Stayed Basque for what its worth, La Real have the rep for being the better development team. I get the feeling that while not completely confected, most Basque rivalries are not as intense as their combined disdain for those outside their cantera.
Del Piero and Buffon in 2006 just after winning the world cup, they stayed with Juventus that was relegated to second division. That's loyalty.
Surely Lewis Dunk had to make this list. He bleeds blue and white. 🔵⚪
Respect for all of them, especially for Reus, and the forgotten captain of beloved Everton, Seamus Coleman. Seamus came from Sligo Rovers to Everton and has played there since January 2009.
Gaya is impressive
But Dani Parejo even more
Real Madrid and especially Barcelona went for him every year,with him refusing wanting to be a club legend
At one of his highest moments
Lim basically kicked him out.
The photo of him winning the Copa del Rey Vs Barcelona was removed, which lead to an uproar by the fans
Lim disrespected him so much
Lim is a joke of an owner
The biggest example of loyalty i ever felt in play ( but he is retired since a few years ) , was Franscesco Totti. A real football genius who played for AS Roma. He could have gone to ANY top club at any given moment and have become part of the row, Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, Ronaldinho, etc..., but he stayed loyal till the very end, when he retired in his forties.
Timo Horn should have got a mention alongside Hector. At the time he was a decent keeper and could easily have left Köln when relegated but stayed along with Hector
Here to spam you with the fact that Indonesia had one Loyal footballer that unfortunately passed away mid game : Choirul Huda
Despite various offers from other teams, Choirul always chose Persela Lamongan and never looked elsewhere. Rest in Peace.
It's been a long time since he died
InsyaAllah tenang diatas sana
Koke should have had atleast a honorable mention
Not playing anymore but Matt Le Tissear stayed at Southampton even though he could have gone to a bigger club
Hiya Sean, Matthew LeTissier was only on £1,500 per week, he could of easily doubled or even trebled what he was getting at Southampton, an absolute wasted talent, and He was a jinxed player against Newcastle
I know he is a scum legend but I agree with you here that Matt Le Tissier was one of the most loyal footballers ever. He is to Southampton what Alan Knight and Jimmy Dickinson were to Pompey, I will always respect that about him.
Seamus Coleman - at Everton for 14 years, rejected offers from United and Bayern
Leighton Baines - at Everton for 13 years, rejected multiple offers from United
What? When did Manchester United ever have a bid accepted for either player?
Not a modern player, but perhaps one of the most loyal player to his club worthy of mention is the late Uwe Seeler. He's had offers to go to other clubs in his time, but he always stayed faithful to his HSV. Anyone going to the Volksparkstadion will also get to a statue of Uwe Seeler's foot in front of the arena.
He did interrupt his retirement once to play a single match for Cork United in Ireland, but that was more of a commercial thing organised by Adidas. Apparently, back in the day, you could have guest players play one-off official matches in the Irish football league.
Wow I never knew that, that's really interesting about Irish football! Thanks
Cristhian Stuani. Had the chance to leave for Barcelona, but decided to stay at Girona in the second tier. Now he is the all-time-topscorer by a lot with more than 100 goals. Back in the first tier now as a pinchhitter while Girona are in the race for European football. Legend.
That pinch hitter analogy is actually great … stuani plays when dovbyk either needs a rest or it’s like a2-1 lead with 20 to go ..they know stuani will hold the ball up well in the final third
Finally someone who rates gaya, he is truly world class, the fact that people wanted balde to play over him at the world cup shows how underrated he is
No mention of Berardi at Sassuolo is a crime
I want to spend a word about Inter legend Javier Zanetti. He came to Inter from Argentina very young (22yo) and was one of the best fullbacks of the world for a decade at least and he stayed with Inter through really harsh times. He played with the club 858 official matches in 19 seasons, thanks to his dedication and hard work he was able to keep himself fit and still be in the first team as Inter won the treble in 2010 at the age of 37. It was reported that on his marriage day he left after the ceremony to go training in the afternoon.
And now he is the vice president the club. Zanetti earned the respect of every football fan in Italy, even Inter's harshest rivals supporters.
Marcell Jansen from Hamburg was a pretty loyal footballer retired rather than finding another club and still works there.
Lol
Domenico Berardi?
He's already a Sassuolo legend and he never played for any other team although being one of the best wingers in italy
While this is true and definitely a player worth mentioning, he was technically signed by Juve and has said that he has tried to find a move away from the club which isn't really loyalty
@@rorybessell8280 yeah but did he move? He could've always not sign new contracts and go away for free
Looking at how much better he is from all of his teammates....
But i understand your point
Harry Kane at Spurs can you imagine his trophy cabinet now if he had decided to leave one of the many times that he had the opportunity to do so but he's always stuck by Spurs even though its cost him success now thats pure dedication
It's disgraceful the amount of disrespect Harry gets. Everyone piles in on Spurs being s***, whilst conversely not giving him credit for managing to close in on the all time scoring record, passing Rooney, whilst playing on such a perennially poor side.
@@wolfmaulerIt’s his own fault, Kane has no drive or determination to win silverware. He’s perfect for Spurs
Well, he actually requested a transfer once, so not so loyal in that aspect
@@akunwanneprosper7016 He never put in a formal transfer request
@@kellijones6481 Checkmate 😆...Well done, yes, that's a popular meme, and also has absolutely nothing to do with the individual achievements I mentioned. Your comment is unwittingly the perfect example of the kind of idiotic attitudes that Kane garners.
Jose Gaya is really the best example of this. He might actually be the one to break the Valencia captain which holds that every player that captains Valencia for one season ends up being sold. It's a curse that claimed even Carlos Soler whom I was pretty sure would never leave Mestalla.
I wanted to mention Paul McStay, a fantastic midfielder for Celtic Football Club. at a time when it wasn't going well with Celtic this man was Captain and Fan favourite.
Many clubs enquired of his services....but it always ended in disappointment for them.
It's fair to say that more gifted players have played for the club.....but none more loved and respected than Paul.
I grew up watching this team in the late eighties, and early nineties.......hard going indeed. Paul was always the best player on the pitch with an incredible brain and technique.
If it's true, Celtic fielded many enquireries about his availability for transfer.
And they gave us James McGrory and Paul McStay...
@@tnyamaneko6093 HailHail Tn....'mon the Hoops 👍🍀💚⭐
As someone already mentioned Hector announced his retirement a few weeks ago. There is a video of him telling the team after a game in a speech followed by the whole team blasting out a song about „Someday coming back where we all grew up, so our kids can be born in Cologne“
Maldini from AC Mailan is the most loyal player in football for me,started there as a kid ,won everything and retired with grace,Totti is 2nd at AS Rom
Dont forget del piero
Zaha at palace for sure. When he went to Utd he demanded a loan back, and when he didn’t get a second loan back to us and was sent to Cardiff, he left utd . He signed a 5 year deal when he could’ve easily left to a big club. One of the most loyal players out there, probably too loyal
That’s more a case of palace not accepting any bids, not that they should
I think its called Stockholm Syndrome
He has asked on multiple occasions and even begged to leave palace in the past, he isnt loyal the club just havent let him leave
That’s fucking cap 😂
@@BowmanHath31 As a Palace fan this is very true, but at least he's shown loyalty by not protesting/refusing to play or train. So while he definitely has wanted a move, he's been loyal and respectful by modern standards.
This channel has been producing banger after banger recently.
I Think you missed Igor akinfeev from CSKA Moscow. A worldclass keeper who always sticked with his boyhoodclub, and never left for one of europes giants.
For me, Müller is the most loyal player and always stands behind his club
why would even go for a downgrade?
Múller? Thomas Müller? Who else would want him? lol
@@Reavix1 Manchester United and Napoli did. He actually turned down a 100m bid from Man Utd TWO times.
Rhyan Grant has played with Sydney FC since 2008, which is his only professional club. Winning numerous titles along the way.
Leigh Broxham made his debut with Melbourne Victory in 2006 and, amazingly, he is still at the club - winning 4 league titles along the way.
Broxham is the type of squad player every team would love to have in spades, never figures in the first 11 at the start of the season, somehow always ends up with the armband by the end. Has played almost every position.
15 plus seasons, rinse & repeat...
What about Lucas Pérez my friend. Dude paid half million from his own pocket and got relegated 2 divisions to play for his hometown club at Deportivo La Coruña!
Great video as always, but I must say Koke should've at least gotten an honourable mention alongside Oblak. He came up through Atleti's ranks as a youth player, earned a spot in the first team, rejected clubs as big as Juventus or Barcelona when he was in his prime, and went on to captain his childhood team and become Atleti's player with most appearances in history. As a one club Man who would probably have a Champions League medal if he had left for Barcelona but decided to stay at the club he loved instead, becoming a legend in the meantime, I think he should've been included. Good video regardless, keep up the good work.
Oblak wasn't loyal to his former Portuguese clubs
No Thomas Muller? He is literally Mr. Bayern...
he still got many trophies
Possibly not the biggest name in world football, but, a man of my club, Callum McGregor I feel is worth a shout here, there’s been reports through the years of deals being offered but he’s never seemed to have entertained even one. Our manager Ange even recently commented on his unwavering dedication in an interview, the man lives and breathes Celtic
We're incredibly lucky to have had him and Forrest at their very best stay loy... unrepentant.
Declan Rice and Jack Grealish talked shit about their proud irish roots before then deciding that they where actually English all along
as a Celta fan, thank you for explaining the story of our Hero 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵
My respect for these players has just gone through the roof
U need to revise your English idioms
*through the roof
Just following up on the previous commenter
@@williamferguson8543 And actually telling the original commenter how to correct their mistake
Last year Horta actually said goodbye to Braga's supporters but it seems that the deal didn't go thru. I wouldn't call him loyal, he just has a really weird contract.
Yeah I was going to mention that. I always thought it was more about braga wanting more money for him than benfica is willing to pay.
He rejected the offer, like said in the video. Definitely proof of loyalty.
@@MalteeeeeeeHe literally waved the fans goodbye in one of the games in the begining of the season, when rumours of a benfica transfer were strongest, so pretty hard to argue he denied the offer, it only failed due to Braga not wanting to pay malaga a sell on clause. Since the deal fell through tho he renewed and is presumably staying
@@Malteeeeeee he rejected the offer from the MLS, but he definitely accepted benficas offer (he’s a benfica academy graduate and a lifelong benfica fan tho, so it’s totally understandable him wanting to move at the peak of his game)
@@David-qq9bk There's only a few clubs he'll go to, but Malaga's in the way.
Lewis Dunk should have at least gotten an honorouble mention imo. He's from Brighton and has played his whole professional career for Brighton & Hove Albion (apart from a brief loan spell to Bristol City) from when they were all the way back in League One to now, where they might qualify for Europe. He even spent most of his youth career at the club, joining it when he was only 12 years old.
Absolutely 💯
And his cousin Burpy Chunk at Squatney F.C.
And an England call-up🎉
He is 20 years in a row with us!! UTA💪💪💪
Interesting that all 7 are either Italian, Spanish, German or Portuguese as those four countries have a very strong emphasis on family and loyalty.
Basque loyalty gets into absurd release clauses such as Oscar de Marcos 999 million Euro release clause since expired. and the Iker Muniain 0 euro clause where the player just refuses all offers. As in Oscar's was completely unrealistic but showed how much he didn't want to leave Athletic Club.
You can find such players everywhere. Have a look at Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United or Celtic Glasgow. This has nothing to do with nationality and family.
Manuel Rui Costa never wanted to leave Benfica either but the club was close to bankruptcy and almost joined Barcelona but joined last second bid Florentina instead because they offered the highest bid just to help Benfica. Then he didn't leave Fiorentina until they were on the brink of bankruptcy and joined AC Milan.
Gianpaolo Bellini? Started in the Atalanta Youth ranks, got his first team start in 1998 and went on to play 396 games before retiring as team captain, moving in to backroom becomign a Youth Coach in the organization where he started his career.
Hot take: People only label footballers as "loyal" when they have a capability to choose the better team but choose to stay in a team that's not as good as them. For example, Marco Reus at Dortmund, Steven Gerrard at Liverpool, Totti at Roma, De Gea at United or Kane at Spurs.
If said player was great and the team was as great, then nobody would consider them to be loyal. For example, Messi at Barcelona or Thomas Mueller at Bayern Munich.
it's not a hot take, because you clearly dont know what the term loyalty means.
In order to be loyal, your loyalty has to be checked, which means in this context getting an offer for something that seems to be on its face value more benefitial for you career.
For example you can't be loyal if no one other wants you, loyalty will never be checked that way and if you are already at a top club, what else is there to be loyal about outside of money?!
Messi being loyal to barcelona is the biggest pr campaign I've seen in modern football, after Neymar left he pressurized Barcelona to make big signings like dembele and Coutinho which failed, he has always had a say in their transfer signings. Then when he saw that Barca were in financial trouble, he make several unreasonable demands like private jet for his family/big agent fees for his dad and brother/a small release clause so he can leave any time he want. He very well knew that Barça will not be able to fulfill his demands and jumped ship to PSG for a big paycheck while doing that publicity stunt with crying at his farewell. Before you say he does not care about money let me tell you he is the only football player who is getting paid by two gulf states at the same time (Qatar via PSG and Saudi Arabia via tourism ambassador) he is the biggest mercenary in modern football with millions pumped in his PR to make him look humble.
That's basically what he said at the end of the video.
Kane actually wanted a transfer away from Spurs some years go
@@shadowfell_21 Facts. You put these words right out of my mouth. Been saying these things for years, but the problem that most football fans (Messi and Ronaldo fans especially) are so braindead and reject the reality even when all the clues are provided.
I've been asking them if Messi is such a fan of Barcelona, then why didn't he helped his home club by reducing his own wages, and instead he and his family were pushing to Barcelona to give him more money? And if he's a fan of football, then why did he join PSG instead of, for example, Olympique de Marseillle, or Inter Milan?
Thanks for speaking sense, mate. It means a lot.
I think people underestimate how much being happy and settled somewhere is important for some players - especially if their family live, work and go to achool in the area as well. For some I think it the most important thing in the world.
What has Coventry City done to be ignored by you in every video? Robbie Keane said he was a lifelong fan when he joined them as well. You should also do a video on what happened to the Sky Blues and why they don’t own their own stadium after selling Highfield Road to developers.
What? The video is about loyal players. Also Robbie Keane never said that, except in jest. He’s a well known boyhood Celtic fan and discussed it many times.
In February 2015 Reus even prematurely renewed his contract for two more years until 2019 when Dortmund were sitting in a relegation spot by the winterbreak during Klopp's last year.
If I'm not mistaken Lewis Dunk is with Brighton since League One
Happy you mentioned Maldini even he is not active. Not only did Maldine show loyalty but he performed at the higest level through out his long carreer
jamie vardy honourable mention
honorable mention: James Ward Prowse (Southampton midfielder) (arguably one of the best Free Kick takers in the Premier league)
Alfie, you forgot Christian Günter at Freiburg and Hugo Mallo at Celta Viga
Iker Muniain and Inaki Williams at Athletic Club also would belong, but then the list would be way too La Liga heavy as the players in Spain seem to be afraid of moving elsewhere and ending up on the bench.
Muniain has a 0 release clause yet refuses all offers as he intend to retire in Bilbao while Williams has the Oyarzabal method of raising his release clause every time then walking away.
There was always an air of class every time he touched the ball at Liverpool. I always liked him even tho he couldn't live up to his expectations. Aspas could have proved otherwise if the coaches at Liverpool played him right. He could have for sure got us 1 or 2 league titles. I'm happy you're a legend now.
Potential Documentary on the clubs who were rumoured to be bought by a particular person/entity and the ramifications of them not being purchased (both negative and positive) please xoxo
Ok this idea is great, we have a lot of coverage of actual selling due to better paper trail, but those failed stories are as interesting and we (the public) don't know a lot of what happened
Being a loyal player isn't supposed to be the norm but the exception. That's why they're so praised, especially if they play in an average team. It works in anything, even our jobs. No one should be loyal to a job where you can be replaced within a week.
Kane to Man City was only ever a thing in the pages of the Sun. To my knowledge, the "gentlemen's agreement" that supposedly existed between Kane and Levy was that if an offer _acceptable to Daniel Levy_ came in then he would allow Kane to leave. Rumour was that Levy was looking for £150 million but probably would have allowed himself to be beaten down to £120 million.
As far as I am aware, Man City came in with a bid of £70 million and after Levy turned it down, they never came back. Instead they went and splashed £100 million on Jack Grealish. Given that nobody considered Grealish worth more than half that sum and that you could hear jaws hitting the floor from Lands End to John O'Groats when the transfer fee was made known, it follows that any interest in Harry Kane was lukewarm at best. Pep Guardiola certainly didn't seem all that bothered in press conferences at the time answering the question with something along the lines of, "Well, if they'll sell him to us, we'll take him but it's up to them."
Reus' one isn't that unusual just because he didn't start his professional career at Dortmund. You say he was born in the city, so as a kid he more than likely supported Dortmund and will have family that support them too. So it's not that unusual he is loyal to Dortmund if they're the team he grew up supporting.
Also he literally did start his career with Dortmund. He joined them as a 7 year old and left at 17 to join Rot Weiss Ahlen.
@Davie Bananas I said professional career not career as a whole. Yes he was at Dortmund before but for the youth teams. Didn't break through into first teams until he was at Rot Weiss Ahlen.
@@S050683 Who judges humans based on that though. The argument is he had a love for Dortmund as they were the first club he played for and represented for 10 years, before stepping down and playing for lesser teams, only to succeed and return to his boyhood club.
Reus was committed to Dprtmund but Dortmund wasn't always committed to him. It doesn't change the criteria.
Reus was more loyal to his haircuts than anything else he’s always looked the same
For some of these players, being loyal to their team was a way to safeguard their own consistency and success.
People use “system player” as a pejorative term but in reality, it’s better to be cognizant of your reliance on a certain system than to go elsewhere and expose your weaknesses with another incompatible system. Ciro Immobile and Marco Reus are prime examples of this tendency. Jonas Hector is going to retire as one of the most consistent players in Bundesliga history solely because he consistently met his expectations at Koln.
Thomas Muller he never left them after almost 12 years
Great video, but you forgot to add Igor Akinfeev. He's totally one of the most loyal players in the world, to be honest. He decided to stay in his favorite team, CSKA Moscow till he stops playing. Yes, he's a goalkeeper, but he plays his entire career (20 years) for this team and he's still good at the age of 37 and he won a lot of trophies with the team including UEFA Cup in 2005 when he was 19
Where the heck is Thomas Müller?
well there is an loyal player that used to be like and hatred at some point in 2015 until 2018 in Portugal,Luisao was playing at Benfica and been loyal from 2003 until 2018,he rejected to signed with Real Madrid in 2004 and PSG in 2011 just to stay at Benfica
Christan Günter from SC Freiburg is the first name that jumps me to mind, beeing a SCF fan hardly surprising😅 Günter is also a german left back and a one club man.
I'd love to see a video from about the SC Freiburg, please please please!
I was thinking the same so underrated like most of our squad, and we have the most loyal manager! I feel we deserve more credit
@@lanzo3943 So true!
Karim Benzema deserves a spot on this list. You never hear about him or his agent talking about his transfer, salary etc. He has kept his head down since he joined Real Madrid and never complained about anything, ever!
Bruh it’s Real Madrid, can you really go up from there?
@@sweatyhaggis4303 Tell that to Casemiro, Ronaldo, Higuain, Ozil, Di Maria, Robben, Sneijder etc. etc. Real Madrid might dominate UCL for years, but you've to admit that they don't offer the same wages as English clubs. Fun fact: Benzema earns lesser than a flop like Sancho.
@@Mos41f Doesn't matter, he's at the best club in football history and is already receiving what he's worth so i wouldn't consider that as loyalty.
Does Jordan Henderson not deserve a place on this list (or at least in the honourable mentions)? Been at the club since 2011 and joined when they were at their worst in a very long time and finished outside the top 4 for the first 4 out of 5 seasons he was there. Not to mention he’s played over 350 games for the club as well
Nothing compares to having a Loyal player like those in your club. As a Roma fan all my respects for Il Capitano Francesco Totti and also to Daniele De Rossi that really could've played anywhere in Europe but chose to stay in Roma
Seamus Coleman once again snubbed - what do you have against the man
Nacho from real madrid should top this list. That man is a definition of loyalty.
Inaki Williams deserves a mention too
what a well researched and excellently made video! Greetings from Bundesliga-country.
Real Sociedad haven't secured their place in Champions League, fierce battle with Villarreal 😢
These are the respective footballers whom I have been and must be extremely so respectful daily and ever in this world and other planets,good friends!!!I am surely confident that mainly Jose Gaya would finish his career at his boyhood Valencia(one of my favourites ever) and be idolised as the icon of the footballing team,just like the other respective inclusions,good friends!!!LONG LIVES RESPECTIVELY TO ALL OF THEM AND FOOTBALL IS MAINLY ABOUT PASSION,LOYALTY AND RESPECT,GOOD FRIENDS!!!:-D
What about Müller?
On point early about loyalty. Fans moan about players lack of loyalty to clubs, but the clubs themselves are extremely cutthroat and business-like these days. It goes both ways.'
Guys Gabriel Batistuta was a top striker in the best league in the 90's and he was relegated with fiorentina and brought them back up without a mention so its a very selective "opinion" the boy has. Don't get bent out of shape cos your favourite player wasn't mentioned. Think of a video that could be made with your fav player in it and pitch the idea. The boy does his homework very well in these videos and from what I can see, is very open to ideas.
Batistuta left La viola for Roma though to win titles. He also played for like 8 clubs.
@@daviebananas1735 Batistuta was sold son so fiorentina could make money cos he was old and very unfit. Why do you think they love him so much? No world class striker goes down a division unless they're committed. Check out what price he fetched then check out what quality of life he had afterwards
@@paulgetgood3534 I don’t think you get the point of MOST loyal. Regardless of his reasons for moving between clubs many times, it hardly pinpoints him as the MOST loyal player of all time
@@daviebananas1735 son I don't think you get it! How many world class footballers have wen't to the lower divisions to bring their club back to where they belong? I understand what you mean but being Scottish and absolutely loving Gabriel Batistuta for being as good as he was doesn't deserve any negativaty lol
@@daviebananas1735 I don't know if you don't like batigoal but I love football players who make the game look good. Alan shearer is one of my favourite players of all time. Zizu is prob my fav with crazy canto my second fav so we obviously look at the world differently but it still doesn't take away from Paul Mullin lol
How is nobody talking about Gaya? He's litereally been world-class, still world-class now.
thomas muller?
Alfie, you should do a series of videos that looks at the best football player born on each day of the year broken up into 12 videos one for each month. You could release the videos over an entire year with videos releasing on the first of their respective months to spread the videos out as well.
So let me get this straight busquets and Muller don't count because they are at successful clubs even though they've only played for one club, but players that have played for multiple clubs are loyal? Makes sense
Yes
Lol, look at Xavi and iniesta too, they retired from one club in theirs entire career. How many top footballer does that ??
‘Leftback is the most loyal position in football’… Dean Lexington is by far the best example of this