The Liverpool FC Forum > General Football and Sport
So good, they named a position after him. Claude Makelele Retires.
Cusamano:
Best defensive mid in the world in his prime.
Danyaals Kop:
Makelele was the real thing.
Strong, quick and held the midfield like a fortress allowing the other three ( four if you count Roberto Carlos ) to rush forward.
itsgunnabebarnes!:
No better than Mascherano in the role, both good players but not the world class players some think.
Baraka:
Redondo >>> Makelele imo.
The Manhattan Project:
We will not miss Makélelé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn't a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makélelé to be forgotten
- Florentino Perez, Real Madrid president, after selling Makelele
Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?
- Zinedine Zidane, on selling Makelele and buying Beckham
I think Claude has this kind of gift – he's been the best player in the team for years but people just don't notice him, don't notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew, the players all knew he was the most important. The loss of Makélelé was the beginning of the end for Los Galacticos… You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key and I think he is the same to Chelsea now
- Steve McManaman