[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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?