Its a different game now. Italy was truly dominate during those early 90s years. If you look from 88 through 93 then you had most of the top players doing one of two things 1) playing for the team or teams in their home country (ie Brondby had decent sides) or 2) moving to Italy to play in the Serie A (Milan had the Dutch trio, Inter had the German trio, Napoli had Maradona, there were Argentine and Brazilian stars playing for lesser Italian sides because Real and Barca couldn't field the entire team, etc). I just can't see a Wegerle scoring 10 goals in the EPL at its current level. Nor could I have seen Wegerle score 10 goals in the Serie A around 1990. When Cantona came to play in the EPL (it wasn't the EPL yet if I remember) he looked like he was just toying with other teams. While he was a great player, he would not look that way if the same Eric played now. He also came in at a time when the tactics in English football were changing. So it isn't just that the talent is better now, but the way the games are played is different. Anybody know how many goals Harkes scored while in the top flight? I remember him getting the goal of the year for that rocket at Wembley. 8)
because A = great attacker = scores more goals than good attacker B = great midfielder = sets up more goals than good midfielder C = great defender = prevents more goals than good defender A + B + C = wash However I just don't agree that -A + -B + -C = -A + B + C If you follow
Details aside... I think the root of the question is really focusing on born, raised, and developed "american styled" players finally succeeding in Europe - and giving us all a reason to finally start looking up leauge-wide players stats rather than just looking to see if our YA made the roster!! Under this filter, McBride and Beez are easily the best we've seen. Harkes probably notched a couple and was certainly all-american. Stewart may be Dutch by primary residence, but he makes the list because he was in the USMNT while he was pumping in goals. Fast forward this question six years, and I bet there are two or three YA in the top 15 scorers in at least three to leagues in Europe. Adu, Johnson, Casey, Donovan, Convey, Beez, Rolfe, Herculez, Feilhaber... are a good starting point...
Jovan scored a bunch of goals for ManU ------ Reserves He never could get a work permit which is why he was sold from ManU to Dortmund. At the time Ferguson was very high on him, but he never played for the 1st team.
he was still in the top flight but not nearly as effective 6 goals in 34 matches for Blackburn 9 goals in 53 matches for Coventry then he left for MLS