Osvaldo ardiles biography definition
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From Pelé and Diego Maradona in the last century, to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in this one – each generation produces a handful of players that are truly elite. These are the superstars of the sport whose on-the-field displays can confound even the sharpest analytical minds. Even though these are the players that frequently dominate the headlines, there is another just as well-loved category of footballer and that is the “cult hero.&#;
Be it Juninho Paulista at Middlesbrough, or Jay-Jay Okocha at Bolton Wanderers, these players define eras rather than generations unlike the aforementioned megastars, but their impact still cannot be understated.
There’s something about a talented player joining a traditionally unfashionable club that instantly ingratiates them to the fans and, if they are seen to embrace the culture of the club, they can be immortalised in club legend. One such figure in English football during the s was the Tottenham legend Osvaldo César
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The midfield ambassador
It was practically a different sport.
It was something called football, but not the game we knew.
I had thought about Europe, and in this order: Spain, Italy France. England didn’t even cross my mind. There wasn’t a single foreign player there.
It changed just after the World Cup, when Tottenham head coach Keith Burkinshaw (below, centre) spoke to the president of Huracán, the club in Buenos Aires where I was playing.
“Look, there’s an Englishman who wants to talk to you!”
There was no internet then, and it wasn’t so easy to find out about the news. Not many people had a clue about English football.
But I spoke to him, I liked him and I signed immediately. Then the possibility of another player coming with me arose. So much the better: I wouldn’t feel so alone.
It took a little while to convince him, but in the end he said yes, too.
And, with that, Ricardo Villa (above, left) and I became pioneers.
At the beginning it was really hard for us
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It’s hard to envisage the Premier League with no foreign players, given the rich skills and cultural diversity these players have injected into English football. However, this was the reality of the First Division in the early s, as a lag restricted eligibility to only British-born footballers or players who’d been living in Britain for at least two years. The landscape changed in with a new ruling, leading to an första wave of foreign players joining the ranks, notably at newly promoted Spurs, sporting the iconic Admiral kit.
Prior to , English football operated under strict regulations that prohibited the influx of foreign players. This policy limited clubs' abilities to recruit talent from abroad unless they had been living in Britain for more than two years, which effectively ruled out any transfers between overseas clubs. However, as the footballing world evolved and international competitions showcased the prowess of players from diverse backgrounds, pressure mounted to