Greatest European in a South American league?

[milivella]

Many great South American footballers played in European club teams:
Maradona, Zico, Di Stefano, etc. But which is the greatest European
footballer that played in a South American league?

milivella

[sangreazul]

Different ways to reply to this. Emilio Butragueno and Michel of Real Madrid joined Celaya in the mid 90's joining their Real Madrid teammate Hugo Sanchez.

A player who had a longer lasting impact was Isidro Langara of Spain who played in Argentina and Mexico ...

from Wikipedia ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidro_L%C3%A1ngara

[Cassano]

I'm not saying he was the greatest but Dejan Petkovic has impressed in Brazil for years

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejan_Petkovic

[milivella]

Thanks for the replies. So now the question is: why did so few European players go to South America? Is it the only answer the obvious one - the economic one -, or there are other causes (such as the force of habit, or the lack of visibility down there)?

milivella

[msioux75]

Otro jugador importante fue el legendario Renato Cesarini, quien nacio en Italia, pero su carrera la inicio en Argentina. Siendo internacional por ambos paises.


En el caso de Peru, han jugado algunos Europeos en los 50's y los 90's, pero con poco exito. Los mejores podrian ser los Ingleses que jugaron en el Lima Cricket de inicios de siglo. Pero es poco lo q se sabe de ellos.

[milivella]

To msioux75:

Thanks.

milivella

[Excape Goat]

Perhaps, Neil Franklin is the greatest. He was lured away to the Colombian league to play for Independiente Santa Fe of Bogotá. I did not know much about him, but both Billy Wright and Tom Finney selected him for their Best XI dream team.

[milivella]

To Excape Goat:

> Perhaps, Neil Franklin is the greatest.

Thanks for the hint!

milivella

[lanman]

Perhaps, Neil Franklin is the greatest. He was lured away to the Colombian league to play for Independiente Santa Fe of Bogotá. I did not know much about him, but both Billy Wright and Tom Finney selected him for their Best XI dream team.

http://www.football-england.com/neil_franklin.html

That's a pretty good article about Franklin. He only played 6 games in Colombia, so while he might have been one of the best Europeans to play in South America, his career there was almost non-existant.

[Excape Goat]

Thanks for the article. I believed he was not the only English players in Colombia at that time. The other one was not as well-known, but didn't he play longer than 6 matches?

[argentine soccer fan]

The most notable european to play at Boca Juniors has to be Pedro Arico Suarez, who played from 1930 to 1942. He was a talented and hard working midfielder from Spain, born in the Canary Islands. But he grew up and learned his football in Argentina, so although he is technically a European, he is not a transfer from Europe. Other than that, I'd say he'd be a good candidate for greatest European in South America, he was a key member of the Boca teams that won 6 Argentine titles (1 amateur and 5 profesional.)

As far as actual transfers, I think the most notable is Francisco 'Sas' Shon, who came from Hungary to Boca Juniors and stayed two seasons, 1939 and 1940. He scored 9 goals in 1939, and was also a member of Boca's 1940 championship team, although he couldn't find a starting spot in a team that was very rich in offensive talent and left in 41.

[lanman]

Thanks for the article. I believed he was not the only English players in Colombia at that time. The other one was not as well-known, but didn't he play longer than 6 matches?

A couple of others who moved over were George Mountford (From Stoke) and Charlie Mitten (from Man Utd). Franklin returned after two months and the six games is taken from the article linked before. Both Mountford and Mitten stayed in Colombia for around a year before returning to England (and lenghty bans for leaving). Mitten scored 24 goals in his time there, so we can probably say he was a success.

[milivella]

So now my list of "true" foreign players (not grown up in South America) is:

From England:
- Bargamaschini (in Brazil)
- Clapshoe (in Brazil)
- Neil Franklin (in Colombia, only six matches)
- Archibal French (in Brazil)
- Hardy (in Brazil)
- Bill Hopkins (in Brazil)
- Alex Hutchinson (in Brazil)
- Charlie Mitten (in Colombia)
- Sidney Pullen (in Brazil)
- George Mountford (in Colombia)
- John Tibbitz (in Brazil)
- Harry Welfare (England, in Brazil)
- Others (in "english" teams such as Rio Cricket and Paysandu in Brazil, Lima Cricket in Peru)

From France:
- Jean-Pierre Bechir Jr. (in Brazil)
- Kharroubi Khaled Farid (in Brazil)
- Gijo (in Brazil)
- Danlaba Mendy (in Brazil)

From Germany:
- Fritz Essenfelder (in Brazil)
- Hermann Friese (in Brazil)
- Mohrdieck (in Brazil)
- Schuback (in Brazil)

From Hungary:
- Florian Albert (in Brazil, only two promotional matches)
- José (in Brazil)
- Francisco Shon Sas (in Argentina)

From Italy:
- Martelo (in Brazil)
- Marco Osio (in Brazil)
- Spagnulo (in Brazil)

From Netherlands:
- Du Martter (in Brazil)

From Poland:
- Dula (in Brazil)
- Nowak (in Brazil)
- Piekarski (in Brazil)

From Portugal:
- Dominguez (in Brazil)
- Fernando Augusto (in Brazil)
- Jacinto João (in Brazil)
- Jorge Silva (in Brazil)
- Lito (in Brazil)
- Paulo Madeira (in Brazil)
- Peres (in Brazil)
- Rui Carneiro (in Brazil)
- Rogério (in Brazil)
- Peres (in Brazil)

From Romania:
- Zaclis (in Brazil)

From Spain:
- González (in Brazil)
- Isidro Langara (in Argentina)
- Rubén Mariño (in Brazil)
- Elias Martin (in Brazil)
- Joaquim Martin (in Brazil)
- Norberto Sanches (in Brazil)

From USSR:
- Tchikhen (in Brazil)

From Yugoslavia (or Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, etc.):
- Andjel (in Brazil)
- Jovicevic (in Brazil)
- Nikola (in Brazil)
- Osmanovic (in Brazil)
- Vladi Petkovic (in Brazil)
- Pintul (in Brazil)
- Ratovancic (in Brazil)
- Tandic (in Brazil)

---

For the "best" question: considering the number of matches played, the poll should maybe restricted to Mittan, Shon Sas, Langara and Petkovic.

milivella

[zenden]

I know it's not in South America, but did any of you know that Eusebio played for Mexico's CF Monterrey?

[milivella]

> I know it's not in South America, but did any of you know that Eusebio played for Mexico's CF Monterrey?

Eusebio, Butragueno, Michel: Mexican league has been chosen by some great European players that have past their prime. Is there a peculiar explanation for this?

milivella

[zenden]

^^ Mexican club pay very well. Josep Guardiola played in Mexico for a little while too.

[milivella]

Speaking about European players in Mexico, here
http://foro.mediotiempo.com/showthread.php?t=7494
it is a forum thread about this.

milivella

[guado]

^^ Mexican club pay very well. Josep Guardiola played in Mexico for a little while too.

not exactly great ones, but sometime in 2000 i think puebla had a serbian coach who brought serbian reinforcements who stunk up the team.

[Excape Goat]

Bora Milutinović and Bernd Schuster also played in Mexico. Mauro Camoranesi, a South American by birth, should not count, but he also played in Mexico.

[yellowbismark]

I don't know about all time, but the first name that comes to mind for current players in South America is Dejan Petkovic. It's a damn shame Serbia-Montenegro didn't bring him to the World Cup selection.