To be honest, this is definitely not the first time I've seen people placing John Charles amongst some of the best players of all-time. He kinda reminds me of José Nasazzi when the old captain used to play centre-forward and full-back — as did John with the "stopper" centre-half. Both were strong, very technical and had a powerful and precise shot.
Re: Gyorgy Sarosi as a 'centre forward' (btw Isaque I noticed the nice little clip of him closing down/pressing on your Youtube channel - I guess playing as centre forward in the way he did, with two 'inside forwards' situated ahead of him at that moment/generally) I saw this from a preview of Scotland vs Hungary in 1938 (that also says something about Zsengellar, Biro, Lazar and Toldi from his team-mates, while saying he himself is a stylish player and called 'The Football Magician'):
He was playing as centre-half in that clip. However, yes, as centre-forward he would very often defend, although it was not common for others to do. While being the leader of the vanguard, Dr. Sárosi used to withdraw and receive the ball to create or score the goals himself. He used to withdraw so much that he could be seen alongside Polgár or Móré.
Maybe overall this is the best thread for another 'top 15' players, this time selected by Alfredo Di Stefano, and published in The People newspaper in March 1960. Adding some context from other known selections by Di Stefano (one XI from a similar moment in 1960 - note the report about Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers being set to play the FA Cup Final on the same page; another XI, with players admired mentioned also, from 1982; and seemingly a brainstorm of players meriting 10 out of 10, 9 out of 10, 8 out of 10, 7 out of 10, by him from the end of the 1970s) https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/interesting-best-xi.325564/page-60#post-40514043 https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/t...cussion-thread.1245347/page-103#post-37231309 And other comments by him are known (I remember one in favour of Pele too, but in 1999 he did select Maradona for the France Football Player of the Century vote) - one (I've also seen in the British newspaper archives) where he says he will instead select a line of 5 forwards and names Munoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna and Loustau that he used to watch playing for River Plate, and another specifically about Adolfo Pedernera, who he said about also that he taught him how to play or influenced him in some respects I remember: » In-depth analysis: Alfredo Di Stéfano “The best player I ever saw in my life, was Adolfo Pedernera. Undoubtedly, Maradona was exceptional, fantastic. The best in years. One can not ignore even Pele. But for heaven’s sake, though it is difficult to draw comparisons, Pedernera was a very complete player who could play anywhere on the pitch. “ – Alfredo Di Stéfano Anyway, here is his March 1960 top 15 he has seen Stanley Matthews, Billy Wright, John Charles, Duncan Edwards, Tom Finney, Ferenc Puskas, Jozsef Bozsik, Sandor Kocsis, Raymond Kopa, Francisco Gento, Didi, Vava, Pele, Nestor Rossi, Jose Manuel Moreno As you can see some alignment and some deviation from his other selections and comments. Probably now I'm personally thinking about as highly about how good Pedernera may have been as I ever did, but it's interesting he doesn't appear again in that selection, while it's also notable to see Didi there given the friction that apparently existed with Di Stefano (obviously it doesn't mean Di Stefano didn't rate him very highly as a player in essence anyway, and his name being there could be surprising to many I guess, given the context, albeit 1959/60 wasn't yet over I suppose). Interesting maybe, given especially that he isn't aiming to make an XI, that Wright's name is there and Erico's isn't for example too. Vava seems maybe the most surprising one potentially though I guess?
I'm surprised that no one mentioned Sárosi and Meazza. It seems that Orth beats these 2 in the narrative. What about Meredith?
From how much I've seen Roberto Baggio's entire matches in my life... were a Lot Of Matches on my whole life that I saw til today . a very talented, skilled and technical player..But unfortunately very limited physically.. and movements similar to those of an Aleijado or Aleijadinho with clear physical deformities.. The games or Plays or Lances that I saw from G.Meazza.. remind me by Diego Armando Maradona..in 1986 at the World Cup Acceleration Agility Dribbling Skills but with a great body balance too.. Once ;; I saw .. he playing against Brazil in 1938 World Cup Meazza was easily 200x times better than Roberto Baggio . honestly there's no way to compare Meazza was much better. than Baggio .