From Chelsea and Blackburn all the way to Celtic, Chris Sutton had the pleasure of working with some incredible players. The former striker recently took the time to name a team full of his best teammates and to say that the XI was impressive would be an understatement.
Starting with the backline, Sutton named Tim Flowers in goal followed by a back three of Johan Mjallby, Marcel Desailly and Joos Valgaeren with Desailly being the pick of the bunch.
The former Chelsea defender won the Champions League twice throughout an impressive career and also picked up the World Cup with France in 1998. He remains one of the best centre-backs to ever feature at Stamford Bridge.
Sutton’s midfield was arguably even more impressive, however. The 52-year-old casually name-dropped Ruel Fox, Tim Sherwood, Stiliyan Petrov and Lubomir Moravcik.
Particularly full of praise for Petrov, Sutton said: “He would bomb on, and we felt like we could take on anybody.”
He arguably saved his best players for his frontline, however, as he dropped Alan Shearer into the conversation. Teammates at Blackburn, the strike partners won the Premier League together in the 1994/95 season and both enjoyed excellent campaigns.
Sutton ended the season with 21 goals in all competitions, whilst Shearer finished up with a whopping 37 in 49 games on his way to becoming the greatest goalscorer that England’s top division has ever seen.
Alan Shearer
260
Harry Kane
213
Wayne Rooney
208
Only Harry Kane can say that he’s near Shearer and there’s no doubt that he’ll be eyeing that record if he returns to English football before he calls time on his career.
It speaks volumes about Sutton’s praise for the final player in his team that he placed him above one of the Premier League’s best.
Sutton names Larsson as "best" teammate
Finishing his team with aplomb, Sutton named Henrik Larsson as the “best” player that he played with. One of the greatest players to play for Celtic, Larsson’s place in this side was always inevitable.
“The best all-round footballer I ever played with. Henrik could simply do everything. A ruthless goalscorer, outstanding in the air, unselfish, naturally athletic and able to play anywhere.”
The Swede should have a place in every all-time Celtic XI and is likely to feature in similar lists from his former teammates. During his time with the Bhoys, the forward scored a stunning 227 goals in 301 games. It simply doesn’t get much more clinical than that.
We’ll never get to see a strike partnership between Larsson and Shearer, but it’s easy to imagine the chaos they would have caused together at the peak of their powers.
That said, the Celtic legend did have a brief spell in the Premier League for Manchester United, in which he scored three times in 13 games at the end of his career. Whether that record would have been improved if he joined the Red Devils at his best is the question, but Celtic fans will be glad that his best work came in Scotland.