BETTER-DEAD-THAN-RED said:what your all forgeting here is that he is a prick.
even if he played better than messi i would still not let him anywear near a blue shirt.
Whether he is a prick or not is irrelevant.
He is a player who gives 100% to his team. That's what you need.
And how many other players out there are able to almost single handedly pull their team up by the bootlaces to get them back into a game. There are a very small amount of players who can do that, and he's one of them.
When all the big stars go missing, he was nearly always there to pull them back. Tell you what, the RAGs are really going to struggle without him.
There's a whole bunch of defenders/forwards/wingers etc who stand out. But when you look at a lot of teams it's in the middle of the park where they struggle.
What a pity he was with the RAGs and an awful pity for England that he spent so little time playing for them.