There are footballers who, while often under-appreciated by the masses, are beloved by their friends in the dressing room. Take one of Carlton Cole’s former West Ham United’s teammates, for instance.
As far as Cole is concerned, the prime example of a player who, while a big hit behind the scenes, maybe didn’t quite get the credit he deserved from a paying audience.
If Valon Behrami were a movie, he would be one of those whose Rotten Tomatoes rating sits far higher among the critics than it does among the average theatre goer. This is not to say the rank and file cinephiles could not follow the plot, or that the subtleties of the script flew over their heads.
Just that, on occasions such as this, you really have to know what you’re looking for.
West Ham United paid £5 million to sign Behrami from Serie A outfit Fiorentina during the summer of 2008.
His bleach blonde, almost Beckham-esque haircut may have given the impression of a flashy, rather capricious talent. But Behrami was anything but.
West Ham's Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami
Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
Carlton Cole thinks Valon Behrami was underrated at West Ham United
A willing work-horse of a midfielder. A man who scored only five goals in 65 Hammers games but whose discipline and determination was impossible to fully quantify.
Just ask Carlton Cole. The former West Ham striker who saw from a first-hand perspective just how influential Behrami would become.
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
What he lacked in silk, he certainly made up for in substance.
“He was unbelievable,” Cole says when discussing his most underrated teammates with Wayne Bridge and namesake Joe Cole. “Valon Behrami mate, a great guy as well. I used to love him.
“He was just a happy guy. But, on that pitch, he would turn into a machine and he was aggressive, a fiery character. I think he was under-appreciated for us.
“He was a top, top player.”
You don’t earn 83 caps for Sweden while representing some of the biggest clubs in Italy – Lazio, Napoli and Fiorentina – without both a fierce mentality and considerable talent.
Now 40 years of age, Behrami would return to England to spend a couple of seasons with Watford before eventually hanging up his boots in 2022.
Former Man City and Chelsea ace Wayne Bridge hated ‘playing against’ Behrami
For Wayne Bridge, the left-back who was coming towards the end of a fine playing career during Behrami’s days at Upton Park, this was the sort of opponent an ageing defender has nightmares about.
“I hated playing against him,” admits Bridge, formerly of Southampton, Fulham and Chelsea. “It was towards the end [of my career when I faced him].
“Mate, he was tough. He was so quick. Deceptively quick. You don’t realise how quick he was. And his work rate was a joke.”
Away from the past and towards the future, Carlton Cole thinks West Ham should test the water for Jack Grealish after his omission from Manchester City’s Club World Cup squad.
Cole also believes Oliver Scarles can become a big player under Graham Potter following the departures of Aaron Cresswell and the Lazio-linked Emerson Palmieri.
“There are certain players who have got that special quality where you think ‘Yeah, he’s going all the way’,” Cole said of West Ham’s newly-crowned Young Player of the Year.
“There will be times where he sees a pass and he’s the only one who has seen it.”