The Death of the Premier League Superstar — Transcript

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1. 0:00The Premier League is considered the
2. 0:01best league in the world. It has the
3. 0:03most money. So why do so many of the
4. 0:04world's most exciting attacking players
5. 0:07play somewhere else? When you look at
6. 0:08the players who get fans out of their
7. 0:10seats, the ones who create something out
8. 0:11of absolutely nothing, so many of them
9. 0:13are playing outside of England. And I
10. 0:15don't think that's a coincidence because
11. 0:17in the past decade, something in the
12. 0:19Premier League has changed. We've gone
13. 0:21from a league where individual
14. 0:23brilliance was celebrated to one where
15. 0:25everything revolves around who is the
16. 0:26most athletic, who can press the most.
17. 0:28Players are becoming more disciplined.
18. 0:29Teams are becoming more organized. But
19. 0:31somewhere along the way, it feels like
20. 0:33the Premier League has started coaching
21. 0:35the creativity out of its attackers.
22. 0:45If you want to see just how much top
23. 0:47attacking talent the Premier League is
24. 0:49missing, look no further than the 2026
25. 0:52Ballon d'Or rankings. Harry Kane
26. 0:54finished first, Mbappé came second, and
27. 0:56Lamine Yamal finished third. Then you
28. 0:57had guys like Messi, the Goat, Khvicha
29. 0:59Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé, and Michael
30. 1:01Olise all making the top 10. But you
31. 1:03know what's interesting about the list?
32. 1:05None of these players play in the
33. 1:06Premier League. I know Kane and Olise
34. 1:09used to be in the Premier League, but
35. 1:10they hit another level after they left
36. 1:12England. And I'm actually going to
37. 1:13discuss this in further detail later in
38. 1:16the video. Erling Haaland was the only
39. 1:18Premier League attacker to make the top
40. 1:1910, finishing eighth. We're talking
41. 1:21about a league that spends billions on
42. 1:23transfers and constantly gets called the
43. 1:25best league on the planet. Yet somehow,
44. 1:27when it comes to the most exciting
45. 1:28individual attackers in football, the
46. 1:30Premier League seems to be falling
47. 1:31behind. Look at Arsenal, for example.
48. 1:34They have become the poster boy for a
49. 1:35good team with zero excitement around
50. 1:38them. They won the Premier League and
51. 1:40reached the Champions League final in
52. 1:41the 2025-2026 season. An incredible
53. 1:43achievement. Yet despite all that
54. 1:45success, not a single Arsenal player
55. 1:48finished in the top 10 of the Ballon
56. 1:49d'Or. Their highest ranking player was
57. 1:51Declan Rice in 15th, followed by Gabriel
58. 1:53in 21st and William Saliba in joint
59. 1:5529th. When is the last time that the
60. 1:58best team in the Premier League had
61. 1:59their most recognized players be a
62. 2:01holding midfielder and two center backs.
63. 2:04This is because Arsenal's success under
64. 2:05Mikel Arteta has been due to a very
65. 2:07defensive system. When you watch them
66. 2:09play, you can see just how much they
67. 2:10rely on being organized rather than
68. 2:12individual brilliance. And look, I'm not
69. 2:14criticizing Arteta for that. This isn't
70. 2:15an Arsenal slander video. Clearly it
71. 2:17works. You don't win the Premier League
72. 2:19and reach a Champions League final by
73. 2:20accident. But this style is not going to
74. 2:22get your attacking players on the
75. 2:23podium. A team won the Premier League in
76. 2:26a dominant fashion, yet none of their
77. 2:28attackers were in the team of the
78. 2:30season. Now, some of you might be
79. 2:31saying, Ped, it wasn't that long ago
80. 2:33that the Ballon d'Or winner was a
81. 2:34Premier League player. Yes, that's true.
82. 2:36But even with Rodri, the ceiling for
83. 2:39Premier League talent is far lower than
84. 2:41it used to be. Some of you are too young
85. 2:42to know what the Premier League was like
86. 2:44in the 2000s. You had Thierry Henry at
87. 2:46Arsenal, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne
88. 2:47Rooney at Manchester United, Drogba and
89. 2:49Lampard at Chelsea, Steven Gerrard at
90. 2:51Liverpool. They were superstars who
91. 2:53could completely take over a football
92. 2:55match by themselves. And the Ballon d'Or
93. 2:57rankings from that era back this up. In
94. 2:592005, Ronaldinho won the award while
95. 3:01playing for Barcelona. But look at who
96. 3:03finishes behind them. Frank Lampard came
97. 3:04second, Steven Gerrard finished third,
98. 3:06and Thierry Henry was fourth. Three of
99. 3:08the four highest ranked players in the
100. 3:10world were playing in the Premier
101. 3:12League. Then a few years later in 2008,
102. 3:14Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or
103. 3:16while playing for Manchester United with
104. 3:18Fernando Torres finishing third for
105. 3:19Liverpool. In that year, you had Ronaldo
106. 3:21doing stepovers and making defenders
107. 3:22look stupid every weekend. You had
108. 3:24Fernando Torres absolutely terrifying
109. 3:26defenders with his pace. Rooney was
110. 3:27running around doing a little bit of
111. 3:29everything. Drogba was bullying an
112. 3:30entire back line by himself. Even at
113. 3:32Arsenal, you had Cesc Fabregas picking
114. 3:34out passes that nobody else could even
115. 3:36see. The Premier League was absolutely
116. 3:38stacked with individual attacking
117. 3:39talent. Now, the guy who finally wins
118. 3:41the Ballon d'Or from the Premier League
119. 3:43ends up being a holding midfielder. And
120. 3:44I think that tells you exactly where the
121. 3:46Premier League is at. It has gone from
122. 3:47being a league where teams try and
123. 3:48outscore each other to one where
124. 3:50managers are obsessed with making sure
125. 3:52the opposition can't score at all. And
126. 3:54look, it might be a smarter approach to
127. 3:57winning football matches, but we are
128. 3:58seeing less magic on the pitch. Cuz look
129. 4:00at the other clubs. At Real Madrid,
130. 4:02they've got Kylian Mbappé, Jude
131. 4:04Bellingham, and Brazilian Jason Dourulo.
132. 4:06Three players who can completely change
133. 4:08a game on their own. Though Vini has
134. 4:09been so bad lately that people think he
135. 4:11has a clone. Then you've got Barcelona
136. 4:12where Lamine Yamal has become one of the
137. 4:14most exciting players in football. And I
138. 4:15think Lamine Yamal is the perfect
139. 4:17example of what the Premier League has
140. 4:19been missing. This guy gets the ball,
141. 4:21looks at the defender in front of him,
142. 4:23and his first thought is to embarrass
143. 4:25that guy. He'll take players on, he'll
144. 4:26try some ridiculous passes, sometimes
145. 4:28he'll cut inside, sometimes he'll go to
146. 4:30the touchline. And more often than not,
147. 4:32he's attempting things that most wingers
148. 4:34wouldn't even think about doing. Like if
149. 4:35you watch Yamal and then you watch
150. 4:36Bukayo Saka, you feel like they're not
151. 4:38even playing the same sport. Now,
152. 4:39sometimes what Yamal does works,
153. 4:41sometimes it doesn't. But that's what
154. 4:43makes him so entertaining. In the
155. 4:44Premier League, only Sharky tries stuff
156. 4:46like that, and he isn't anywhere near
157. 4:47Yamal when it comes to peak and
158. 4:49consistency. Barca also have Raphinha
159. 4:50and Pedri who are brilliant as well. You
160. 4:52see something similar with the
161. 4:53baguett-loving freaks at PSG. You've got
162. 4:55Ousmane Dembélé, the winner of the 2025
163. 4:57Ballon d'Or, Kimmich, Kvaratskhelia,
164. 4:59Désiré Doué, and Vitinha. Players who
165. 5:01are capable of creating chances through
166. 5:04individual skill. Now, Premier League
167. 5:05fans will say that these guys only play
168. 5:07farmers, but the reality is that
169. 5:08whenever PSG have played against a
170. 5:10Premier League team in the Champions
171. 5:11League, they've dunked their nuts all
172. 5:13over their forehead. Now, the funniest
173. 5:15part about all of this is that many of
174. 5:16the players dominating football outside
175. 5:18of England actually used to play in the
176. 5:19Premier League. You look at Harry Kane.
177. 5:21He spent practically his entire career
178. 5:23at Tottenham where everybody knew him as
179. 5:24one of the best strikers in the world.
180. 5:26But after leaving England for Bayern
181. 5:27Munich, his numbers became even more
182. 5:28ridiculous. And of course, he won the
183. 5:30Ballon d'Or. Then you have Mr.
184. 5:31Nonchalant Olise, who if you guys
185. 5:33remember, used to play for Crystal
186. 5:34Palace. He was actually very good at
187. 5:36Palace. That why so many clubs wanted
188. 5:38him. Everyone thought he was going to go
189. 5:39to Chelsea, but then he moved to Bayern
190. 5:40Munich. And suddenly he's become one of
191. 5:42the most productive attacking players in
192. 5:43all of Europe. I mean, him finishing
193. 5:45ninth in the Ballon d'Or rankings in
194. 5:462026 was disgraceful. Even Raphinha, who
195. 5:49looks so lethal under Hansi Flick, used
196. 5:51to play in the Premier League for Leeds.
197. 5:52The reason I bring up these players is
198. 5:54that some Premier League fans would
199. 5:56argue that the league is not lacking
200. 5:58elite attackers, it's making elite
201. 6:00attackers not look as elite. There are
202. 6:03many examples of players leaving the
203. 6:04Premier League and looking infinitely
204. 6:06better. Look at Anthony Gordon at Barca.
205. 6:08He looks way better there than he ever
206. 6:09did at Newcastle. Look at Luis Diaz at
207. 6:11Bayern or even Rafinha. That brother was
208. 6:13not moving like this at Leeds. Now,
209. 6:14obviously a big reason why these players
210. 6:16do better is because they join better
211. 6:18teams and they're surrounded by better
212. 6:20players. But some Premier League fans
213. 6:21argue that while clubs like Barcelona,
214. 6:23Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich have
215. 6:26incredible players, the quality of the
216. 6:28other clubs in their league is far lower
217. 6:30than what you see in the Premier League.
218. 6:32Cuz yes, the biggest clubs in Spain and
219. 6:33Germany and France can compete with
220. 6:35anyone in the world as we have seen in
221. 6:37the Champions League. But there's a much
222. 6:38bigger financial gap between them and
223. 6:40the smaller teams in their leagues. Take
224. 6:42PSG for example. They're going to face
225. 6:44plenty of opponents who simply don't
226. 6:45have the money, squad depth or
227. 6:47individual quality to compete with them
228. 6:49over 90 minutes. That's why these guys
229. 6:51can rest their players so much. Like at
230. 6:52one point, Marquinhos had more minutes
231. 6:54in the Champions League than Ligue 1.
232. 6:55When would you ever see that happen in
233. 6:57the Premier League? The same principle
234. 6:58can be applied to Bayern Munich. These
235. 7:00clubs can completely dominate their
236. 7:02domestic opponents. Their attackers
237. 7:04spend so much of the game in the
238. 7:05opposition half that they can create
239. 7:06chance after chance. So of course,
240. 7:08they're going to put up ridiculous
241. 7:09numbers. That's pretty much what Barca
242. 7:10do in La Liga. Now compare that to the
243. 7:12Premier League. The Premier League has
244. 7:14so much money that even its weaker teams
245. 7:16are incredibly strong compared to the
246. 7:17weaker teams in most other leagues.
247. 7:19Their floor is way higher. I mean, we
248. 7:21saw Bournemouth slap AC Milan. Now let
249. 7:23me make it very clear. I wholeheartedly
250. 7:26disagree with this take. I think there
251. 7:27are so many examples of the inverse
252. 7:29situation where a player comes to the
253. 7:31Premier League and they look way better
254. 7:32than they ever did in the league that
255. 7:34they came from. In fact, there are so
256. 7:35many examples that I have made a
257. 7:37separate video on it. You look at
258. 7:38someone like Pascal Gross. That guy
259. 7:40looks like Gullit in the Premier League
260. 7:42and he never looked like that in the
261. 7:43Bundesliga. But it's a point of view
262. 7:44that I thought was worth mentioning. In
263. 7:45my opinion, the players I mentioned
264. 7:47earlier were already good and just got
265. 7:49put into a better environment cuz the
266. 7:50way the current Premier League teams
267. 7:52operate, they're obsessed with tactics.
268. 7:54Modern managers, especially the guys in
269. 7:56the Prem like Maresca, Arteta, Fabian
270. 7:59Hürzeler, they want to control
271. 8:00practically every little thing their
272. 8:02players do on the pitch. I mean, if it
273. 8:03was up to Maresca, he'd coach some of
274. 8:05these City players in bed too, telling
275. 8:06them what sexual positions to do. Back
276. 8:08in the day, if you had a winger who
277. 8:09could dribble past three defenders,
278. 8:11you'd give them the ball and just let
279. 8:12them cook. If you lost possession a few
280. 8:14times, whatever. That's the price you
281. 8:15pay for having someone who can create a
282. 8:17goal out of absolutely nothing. But
283. 8:19nowadays, everything is about
284. 8:21controlling possession and space. And a
285. 8:23big reason for that is the rise of data
286. 8:25and analytics in football. Managers are
287. 8:28constantly looking at expected goals,
288. 8:30passing percentages, where chances are
289. 8:32created, and which decisions are most
290. 8:34likely to lead to a goal. And here's the
291. 8:35problem. When you take on three
292. 8:37defenders, it's risky. When you try a
293. 8:39ridiculous through ball, it's risky.
294. 8:40Even shooting from 30 yd out is risky.
295. 8:42But passing the ball backwards and
296. 8:44keeping possession, that's safe.
297. 8:46Congratulations, Jack Grealish. So
298. 8:47instead of encouraging players to try
299. 8:49something special, a lot of modern
300. 8:51systems encourage them to make the
301. 8:53safest decision. And listen, I
302. 8:54understand why managers do this. Their
303. 8:57job is to win football matches, not
304. 8:59entertain me sitting on my couch playing
305. 9:01with my balls. But I think we've reached
306. 9:02a point where football is becoming so
307. 9:04focused on avoiding mistakes that
308. 9:06players are almost afraid to try
309. 9:07something special. And it happens the
310. 9:08most in the Premier League. Now keep in
311. 9:10mind, it's not just the managers at the
312. 9:12biggest clubs doing this. Even the
313. 9:13smaller teams in England are incredibly
314. 9:15organized now. You can't just turn up
315. 9:17against Brentford or Bournemouth and
316. 9:19expect to just run through their defense
317. 9:20the way dudes run through Bonnie Blue.
318. 9:22So when an attacker receives the ball,
319. 9:24he's often facing two or three players
320. 9:26who have been specifically instructed to
321. 9:27stop them. And when that happens, the
322. 9:28easiest option is usually to turn around
323. 9:30and pass backwards. So we're getting
324. 9:32more tactically disciplined wingers, but
325. 9:34fewer players who make you excited every
326. 9:36time they touch the ball. Then there's
327. 9:38the physical side of the game, and my
328. 9:40god is the Premier League obsessed with
329. 9:42pace and power. You can't just be an
330. 9:44incredible dribbler or goal scorer
331. 9:46anymore. You have to press defenders,
332. 9:47you have to track back. You have to be
333. 9:49able to win the ball and then somehow
334. 9:51still have enough energy to create
335. 9:53something special when your team
336. 9:54attacks. Again, I understand why this is
337. 9:56the case. If you're paying someone
338. 9:58millions of pounds a year, you want them
339. 10:00to contribute even when your team
340. 10:01doesn't have the ball. But think about
341. 10:02how different this is from the past.
342. 10:04There used to be certain attacking
343. 10:05players who were given permission to do
344. 10:07whatever they wanted. Their job was just
345. 10:09to receive the ball and make something
346. 10:10happened. They weren't constantly
347. 10:11running around defending. They could
348. 10:13save their energy for those moments of
349. 10:14magic. Nowadays, if an attacker isn't
350. 10:17pressing properly, all these tacticos on
351. 10:19Twitter will come out saying this guy
352. 10:20doesn't even deserve to be in the
353. 10:21starting 11. You could be one of the
354. 10:23most talented dribblers in the world,
355. 10:24but if you're not tracking your man,
356. 10:26good luck surviving with some of these
357. 10:27managers. That's what modern football
358. 10:29values now. Look at Semedo. This guy's
359. 10:31second touch is always a tackle. He
360. 10:34dribbles like he's permanently flicked
361. 10:36the right stick on FIFA, but because he
362. 10:38presses, works hard, is fast, and score
363. 10:40goals, he's one of the best wingers in
364. 10:42the Premier League.
365. 10:43>> Good guy, Antoine.
366. 10:44>> You like him?
367. 10:45>> Top guy.
368. 10:46He's the perfect Premier League player.
369. 10:48>> There is such an obsession with tactics
370. 10:50that managers have become bigger stars
371. 10:52than the actual players. Every single
372. 10:54week we're talking about the tactics of
373. 10:55Unai Emery or Fabian Hürzeler or Keith
374. 10:58Andrews and how they're going to
375. 10:59outsmart the opposition manager. Now,
376. 11:00don't get me wrong, these guys deserve
377. 11:02credit. They're brilliant coaches, but
378. 11:03it's just interesting how much the
379. 11:05conversation has changed. When a team
380. 11:06scores a great goal, instead of just
381. 11:08praising the player who scored it, I'm
382. 11:09seeing people start analyzing how the
383. 11:11manager created that opportunity. People
384. 11:13will spend 10 minutes explaining how the
385. 11:15inverted fullback moved into midfield,
386. 11:17dragged the defender out of position,
387. 11:18and that created a passing lane that
388. 11:20allowed the winger to score. And
389. 11:21sometimes I want to say, can we just
390. 11:22appreciate the goal for a few seconds?
391. 11:24Not every single moment needs to be a
392. 11:26tactical lecture, but this way of
393. 11:28thinking has changed how clubs recruit
394. 11:31players as well. Instead of simply
395. 11:32asking who's the most talented attacker
396. 11:34available, clubs are asking who fits the
397. 11:37manager's system. Can he press? Can he
398. 11:38play in a specific position? Will he
399. 11:40follow instructions? Does he have the
400. 11:42physical ability to play at the
401. 11:44intensity we want? Now, of course, these
402. 11:45are all important questions. I'm not
403. 11:47saying go grab the fat guy from your
404. 11:48uncle League and just play him in the
405. 11:49middle of the park cuz he's good on the
406. 11:51ball, but sometimes I wonder whether
407. 11:53clubs are becoming so obsessed with
408. 11:54finding the perfect system player that
409. 11:56they're overlooking players who might be
410. 11:57less disciplined but have far more
411. 11:59natural attacking talent. And at the end
412. 12:01of the day, those are the type of
413. 12:02players we fall in love with. If you
414. 12:04enjoyed this video, I'm sure you will
415. 12:06love this one too. Check it out right
416. 12:07here.