The Most Underrated Players in the Premiership

Willie Gannon by Senior Writer Written on October 25, 2008
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Manchester United

United are also blessed with a great squad. And you wouldn't expect any less of the current league and European Cup holders. They have an abundance of top class talent available to them and almost all are internationals.

Any player that leaves seems to be a star player to their new team even though they may have been squad players at United.

But United's most underrated player is Gary Neville. United fans may love him and ABU's (Anyone But United) may not rate him, but the fact remains that Neville has been a part of every squad since 1992 (546 games).

He is the most capped right-back in England history (85 Caps) and is the current club captain at United. He has won every trophy in the game and holds numerous records for both club and country.

When he retires, Neville is destined to go down as the best ever right-back to have played in England. Not bad for a player a lot don't rate.

 

Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough boast the youngest squad in the Premiership. Their youth academy is second only to Man City for producing young English talent. And while only a few names stand out at the Riverside, the fact remains that when Tuncay doesn't play, neither do 'Boro.

The Turkish international has been one of 'Boro's best performers over the last two seasons and is usually deployed as a striker, or just behind the front two. He works incredibly hard, has great technique, and unfortunately for Gareth Southgate, it only seems a matter of time before he moves on.

 

Newcastle United

Newcastle are both blessed and cursed at the same time. They pay huge wages and usually have great players like Given and Owen on their books, but they always seem destined to underperform.

They normally have overpaid, overrated players on their books, so finding an underrated player could prove problematic. But this season, their best player out field has been Geremi. He has put in good solid performances when the rest of the team have gone missing.

After playing for Real Madrid and Chelsea, the Cameroonian could be forgiven for taking it easy like the rest of his teammates, but Geremi continues to be the one midfielder who seems to care about the "sleeping giant" of a club.

 

Portsmouth

Lassana Diarra is one of the most underrated midfielders in the league and has established himself as one of Harry Redknapp's best buys. But he isn't my choice, as he's highly rated within the game. My choice for Portmouth's most underrated player is Nico Kranjcar.

He has been injured for most of this season, and without him, Portsmouth lack the guile he provided last season. A superb performer for Croatia in international competition, Kranjcar had established himself as one of the best up and comers in Europe before injury cut short his season. Both Harry Redknapp and Slaven Bilic will be looking for Nico to return from injury quickly, as he's badly missed.

 

Stoke City

Stoke have put in a number of good performances since their return to the Premier League. And many have shone, but Thomas Sorenson has been in great form since his summer move from Aston Villa.

The netminder was seen by many as a stopgap signing, but he has returned to the big leagues with relish. And after being frozen out of first-team football for so long at Aston Villla, he would have been forgiven for losing his appetite for competition. But credit where it's due, Sorenson took on a huge challenge both personally and professionally in going to Stoke when the easy life in Denmark beckoned.

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written on October 25, 2008 Rankings/List

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