Players that had "The _______" as a nickname

Jairzinho - O Furacão (The Hurricane)
Éder Aleixo - O Canhão (The Cannon)

 

There's a lot from Argentina:

Julio Cruz - El Jardinero (The Gardner)
Ariel Ortega - El Burrito (The little Donkey)
Rodolfo Arruabarrena - El Vasco (The Basque)
Roberto Ayala - El Raton (The Mouse)
Santiago Solari - El Indiecito (The little Indian)
Martin Palermo - El Loco (The Madman)
Antonio Mohamed - El Turco (The Turk)
Lionel Messi - La Pulga (The Flea)

There's a ton more and a thread about it here:

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=426034

 

Manchester United related nicknames:

Paul Scholes - The Ginger prince
Ryan Giggs - The Lord of the wing
Wayne Rooney - (formerly known as ) The Boy Wonder
Lous Saha - The Sicknote
Giuseppe Rossi - The Precious

 

Leônidas da Silva was known as "O Diamante Negro" (the Black Diamond) and "Homen-Borracha" (Rubber Man).

Didi was called "Príncipe Etíope" (Ethiopian Prince), because of his elegance on the field.

Amarildo received the nickname "O Possesso" (The Possessed) after the 1962 WC, where he substituted Pelé.

 

Nat Lofthouse was knwon as The Lion of Vienna after a game against Austria.

Tom Finney was known as The Preston Plumber as he completed an apprenticeship as a plumber before turning pro.

Paul Ince - The Guv'nor (self styled)

Ray Wilkins - The Crab (due to his regular sideways passes)

 

Rob Rensenbrink was the snakeman.

 

Helmut Rahn - Der Boss (The Boss)

 

Iran captain Rahman Rezaei, dubbed "The Secretary of Defense" by fans of Italy's Messina.

Also former Chelsea forward Eidur Gudjohnsen of Iceland ("The Iceman").

 

Emilio Butragueno- The Vulture

 

John O'shea - The Cat

 

Didier Drogba-The Paradise as coined by the Chelsea fans here on BS.

 

There's a lot from Peru:

- Alberto Rodríguez - "El Mudo" ("The Mute")
- Andrés Mendoza - "El Cóndor" ("The Condor")
- César Cueto - "El Loro" ("The Parrot")
- Claudio Pizarro - "El Bombardero de los Andes" ("The Bomber of the Andes")
- Francisco Hernández - "Manzanón" ("The Big Apple")
- Germán Carty - "El Avestruz" ("The Ostrich")
- Gerónimo Barbadillo - "La Patrulla" ("The Patrol")
- Héctor Chumpitaz - "El Capitán de América" ("The Captain of America")
- Jefferson Farfán - "La Foquita" ("The Little Seal")
- Johan Fano - "El Gavilán" ("The Hawk")
- Juan Carlos Oblitas - "El Ciego" ("The Blind")
- Juan Carrillo - "El Drogba de los Andes" ("The Drogba of the Andes")
- Juan Cominges - "La Jirafa" ("The Giraffe")
- Juan Diego Gonzáles Vigil - "El Hombre Lobo" ("The Werewolf")
- Juan José Jayo - "El Pulpo" ("The Octopus")
- Juan José Velásquez - "El Patrón" ("The Boss")
- Juan Vargas - "El Loco" ("The Crazy")
- Julio César Uribe - "El Diamante" ("The Diamond")
- Luis Hernández - "La Pinza" ("The Pincer")
- Luis Hernández - "Manzanita" ("The Small Apple")
- Miguel Cevasco - "El Candado" ("The Padlock")
- Nolberto Solano - "El Maestrito" ("The Little Master")
- Paolo Guerrero - "El Depredador" ("The Predator")
- Paul Cominges - "El Feo" ("The Ugly")
- Renzo Sheput - "El Pincel" ("The Paintbrush")
- Roberto Farfán - "La Foca" ("The Seal")
- Teófilo Cubillas - "El Nene" ("The Baby")
- Víctor Benítez & Miguel Rebosio - "El Conejo" ("The Rabbit")

 

Enzo Francescoli: El Principe (Spanish) or Le Prince (French), which means The Prince.
Álvaro Recoba: El Chino(the Chinese)
Carlos Valderama: El Pibe (the kid)
Marco Etcheverry: El Diablo(the Devil I think)
Emilio Butragueño: El Buitre (The Vulture).
Jorge Valdano: The Philosopher of Football.
Alfredo Di Stéfano: The Blond Arrow
Javier Saviola: El Conejito (The Little Rabbit)
Pablo Aimar :El Payaso ("The Clown").

 

Rahman Rezaei is not and has never been Iran's captain. He was also nicknamed 'man of steel' by perugia fans.
Some other Iranian players who had been given nicknames by fans I can think of are
Mehdi Mahdavikia nicknamed 'The Rocket' by HSV Hamburg fans
Vahid Hashemian nicknamed 'The Helicopter' by VFL Bochum fans/German Media
Ali Karimi nicknamed Asian Maradona, The Wizard of Tehran or simply Jadoogar (The Wizard)

 

Theo Custers, former Belgian keeper, was the walrus.

 

Those are all good, but how many have actually been called by their nicknames when playing?

for example (Pele, Bebeto, El Chemo, Gigi Buffon)

 

From Ecuador;

Alberto Spencer - La Cabeza Magica (magic head)
Eduardo Hurtado - El Tanque (tank)
Franklin Salas - El Mago (magician)
Alex Aguinaga - El Guero (the fair-skinned)
Jaime Ivan Kaviedes - El Nine (pronounced "neene" means just that; the #9)

 

Gheorghe Hagi: The Maradona of the Carpathians" and "The hunk with the chunk"(I never heard of this one, but it is on wikipedia).

 

i think almost all (at least a majority) of Latin players have a nickname

 

John Charles - Il Gigante Buono (The Gentle Giant)

Stanley Matthews - The Master of the Dribble

Ashley Cole - The Master of the Mobile