Now known to many as a well-respected pundit, Gary Lineker has been involved with football for well over four decades across every level. A striker, Lineker began his career with hometown club Leicester City, debuting in 1978 and spending seven years with the club, finishing as the top scorer of the First Division in his final season.
In 1985, Lineker’s form earned him a move to defending champions Everton, though Lineker would only spend one season at Goodison Park in which the Toffees finished second in the league. Lineker was on the move once more in 1986, joining Barcelona as Everton, cruelly, won the First Division again in their first season without the Englishman.
Lineker spent three years at Barcelona, winning the Cup Winners’ Cup and Copa del Rey. According to Transfermarkt, of the 11 English players who have featured for Barcelona, Lineker remains the most recent. In 1989, Lineker returned to England, joining Tottenham Hotspur and winning his only major trophy in England, the FA Cup, in 1991. Lineker moved to Japan the following year and retired in 1994.
Be it as a player or as a pundit since retirement, Lineker has seen some incredible players across his career. Back in 2023, speaking to The Mirror, Lineker named his ideal five-a-side team and in doing so, revealed which British players he had seen that he thought were the best ever.
‘The Two Best British Players’
Lineker full of praise for two legends
While putting together his five-a-side team, Lineker named himself, legendary goalkeeper Peter Shilton and former Manchester United and Aston Villa defender Paul McGrath. To support him in attack, Lineker added Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish and Gareth Bale, formerly of Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid, a winger often considered one of his generation’s best.
In discussing the pair, Lineker said:
"I'm going to pick Kenny Dalglish to play up front with me. Him and Gareth Bale, for me, are probably the two best British players in my lifetime. Dalglish was incredible. He was one of the reasons Ian Rush scored so many goals."
Starting his career as a left-back with Southampton, Bale’s career started to ascend after he was transitioned into a winger at Tottenham under Harry Redknapp. The Welshman’s form earned him a move to Real Madrid in 2013 for what was, at the time, a world-record transfer fee.
Bale would spend eight years in Spain, returning to Spurs on loan for the 2020/21 season, and in that time won numerous honours with Real. He won three La Liga titles but more impressively, five Champions Leagues. The winger, in 2018, scored one of the greatest Champions League final goals of all time against Liverpool. In 2023, after six months at Los Angeles FC, Bale retired at 33 years old.
Dalglish meanwhile, played for just two clubs across 21 years, debuting for Celtic in 1969. After eight years, the Scot moved south of the border to join Liverpool, where he spent the remaining 13 years of his career. As a player, under the guidance of first Bob Paisley, then Joe Fagan, Dalglish won three European Cups and five First Division titles. The forward played with some exceptional players at Anfield, such as the aforementioned Ian Rush.
In 1985, Dalglish became player-manager after Fagan retired. Spending five years in the role and six as Liverpool manager overall, Dalglish won three further league titles and two FA Cups. Dalglish would enjoy further success as a manager in the 1990s, but remains regarded as one of the best Liverpool players ever.
Lineker’s description of the pair is of course opinionated, but a statement that many would read and agree with, such was the quality of both Dalglish and Bale as players.