Jamie Carragher ranked who he thinks are the 10 greatest midfielders in Premier League history on Sky Sports.
So many world-class midfielders have graced the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Scholes are just a few midfielders that have done some extraordinary things in England's top tier.
Carragher, in an appearance on Monday Night Football, was given a list of 24 legendary Premier League midfielders and was asked to name the 10 greatest.
Jamie Carragher Thinks Paul Scholes is Only the 7th Greatest Premier League Midfielder
Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes
Carragher named former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas as the 10th greatest midfielder in Premier League history, followed by Rodri and Yaya Toure.
Paul Scholes is regarded by many to be the greatest Premier League midfielder ever, but Carragher only ranked him seventh.
Carragher was highly complimentary of Scholes, saying: "The thing I love about Paul Scholes is that a lot of these players on this list have great physical qualities as well. It's not just football ability. They were powerful and could run. Scholes didn't have any of that.
"He was different. When you think of English midfielders, you think of Bryan Robson, Steven Gerrard...there's almost this thing: 'it's got to be box-to-box and energy.' He was almost like a Barcelona or Real Madrid type of central midfielder. And we don't usually create that type of player in England."
Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane Disagree on Greatest Premier League Midfielder
steven gerrard
Carragher named N'Golo Kante sixth, Frank Lampard fifth and Patrick Vieira fourth. He then ranked Kevin De Bruyne as the third greatest Premier League midfielder ever. He said:
"I think he is the best ever passer of the ball in the Premier League. Some of the assists he used to have for Man City... and I think that Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool team should’ve won a lot more given how good they were, but Liverpool didn’t have that (De Bruyne) type of player in midfield.
"He was the difference. I go back to the game when Aston Villa were 2-0 up at Man City on the last game of the season (in 2022) and Liverpool went ahead. Kevin De Bruyne just turned it on and Man City won the league title - he is Man City's greatest player of all time."
De Bruyne
Carragher ranked Roy Keane, one of the greatest Man Utd players ever, in second. He said: "I loved Roy Keane as a player even though I was playing for his biggest rivals.
"The thing that annoyed me though was that Roy Keane was put in this box as someone who 'put his foot in and got in the box to get a goal', but he was the best passer of a ball in the Premier League.
"I don't think anybody on that list was better than Roy Keane at finding his No 10 and playing the ball between the lines. There's lots of different players on that list but I don't think anyone ran a game where everything went through them like Roy Keane. You were the boss in midfield, no matter who you played with and you ran games at the highest level of European football.'
Roy Keane
Carragher then crowned his former teammate, Gerrard, as the greatest Premier League midfielder ever. He said:
"The strength about Stevie was he didn’t have a weakness, he could tick every box. When you think of the three roles in terms of a six, eight and a ten - he could play all those roles. Not many players on that list could play all three at very high level."
When questioned on Gerrard's failure to win a Premier League title, Carragher responded: "The way I flip that is he’s been the best player in league. It says a lot when players you play against pick you in that team.
"Another way of looking at it too is we didn't win the league, we'd have loved to but with the other players on the list, I don't think if we put them in for Steven Gerrard that we would've won the league.
"They wouldn't have had the same impact as him and the two games that stand out - big games define a lot of these players - are the FA Cup final (in 2006) and Champions League final (in 2005)."
Jamie Carragher's 10 greatest midfielders in Premier League history
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Roy Keane disagreed with Carragher, saying De Bruyne is the greatest Premier League midfielder ever. He said: "It’s about opinions, but he’s the first that springs to mind for me."