Gary Neville has named Louis Saha and Michael Essien as his two most underrated Premier League players after the division celebrated its 30th birthday earlier this week.
The former Manchester United defender was involved for 19 of those years, winning eight titles in that time and coming up against some of the best players to ever grace the English top flight. However, when summing up the most underrated players he has faced in his career, it was Saha and Essien who sprang to mind.
He told Sky Sports : "I think the one that I played against, then ended up playing at United, was Louis Saha when he played for Fulham. He destroyed me at centre-back twice. Once when he was in the Championship in the FA Cup and next in the Premier League.
Saha started his career in England in 1999, with a loan at Newcastle United from Metz before he moved to Fulham, scoring 63 goals in 142 games. The Frenchman then joined United in 2004, winning two Premier League titles, the Champions League and League Cup.
Neville played with Saha at United for four seasons, and the duo would strike up a fitting relationship on and off the field. He also played for Tottenham and Sunderland before retiring in 2012.
Who is the most underrated player in Premier League history? Let us know in the comments below!
Essien spent eight seasons in the Premier League with Chelsea and was known as a midfield engine. The former Ghana international made 256 appearances for the Blues, winning two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, the Champions League and the League Cup.
Essien went on to play for the likes of Real Madrid, AC Milan and Panathaniakos before retiring in 2020. He is now a coach at Danish club FC Nordsjælland.
Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was posed the same question in the Sky Sports studio, but came up with different answers to his fellow pundit.
" The games I found difficult was against the likes of Kevin Davies or Bobby Zamora or Duncan Ferguson when they were direct and when you’re playing against a team you’re expected to beat." Carragher admitted. "They just give you an absolute nightmare, you’re involved a lot more than you would be against United or Arsenal because they pass it round but that’s long-throws set-pieces."
Asked who the hardest players they came up against were, Carragher unsurprisingly opted for Thierry Henry "by a mile", while Neville picked ex-Arsenal winger Marc Overmars. "Those battles for four or five years was a massive problem," Neville said. "At Old Trafford, big pitch, Petit dropping in, he kept drifting that ball over my head - he darted in."
He added: "I always fancied myself against most of them (wingers). I remember playing [Luis] Figo in the Champions League, absolutely unbelievable, Overmars, [David] Ginola - at Tottenham and Newcastle - scored a great goal for Newcastle past me, got me sent off at White Hart Lane, just his physical stature."
