Absolutely the best, as you say.. Statistics alone show Greaves way ahead of everyone else in the history of the English game. What they don't show is the fear he struck into every opposing team/set of fans in the build up to the game when due to play against him, for the best part of a decade. He was that good. He was almost unstoppable for at least 6-7 seasons from 1959-68 and took Chelsea and then Spurs, when he returned from Milan, both to different levels of attacking threat.
I know there are arguments regarding different eras of the game which show that things have 'improved' over time (including levels of fitness, technical skills and tactics) But Greaves was a sublime goalscorer and his spatial awareness alone would see him thrive in today's game (if he could be arsed to turn in for training, that is!) I'm glad I saw him live, several times, along with the likes of his team mate John ('The Ghost') White and others such as Alex ('The Golden Vision') Young at Everton, 'Slim' Jim Baxter (Sunderland and Forest), Bobby Moore (West Ham) and so on. The modern obsession, especially among media-johnnies, with 'all things Premiership' means that these true greats of the game have their achievements diminished/eroded by the obsession with whoever is the latest flavour of the month according to those very media types, who are only concerned with chasing click-bait..
