Matt Le Tissier, Le God of Southampton

Unlike what has become common, football players used to spend their careers at their hometown club. As the income in football increased and the money for transfers and salaries appeared, that trend was disappearing to the point of today being something strange that almost does not happen.

Ryan Giggs, Paolo Maldini, Francesco Totti or Carles Puyol are some of the most famous cases in recent times of players that were loyal to their clubs.

However, there is one that is hardly talked about: Matt Le Tissier. An English attacking midfielder with epoch-making talent who played his entire professional career for Southampton FC and that is one of the main reasons why he is not as recognized as other players.

Matt Le Tissier signed his first contract with the Saints at age 17 with whom he would play for more than 500 games. His first seasons were a sample of his talent that was accompanied by inconsistency attributed mostly to his youth. His best performance coincided with the birth of the English Premier League in 1992, hence for many fans he is one of the best players in the history of the competition.

Van Gaal once told Riquelme that with the ball at his feet Matt Le Tissier was the best player in the world and without it was like the team was playing one man down. That comment would apply very well to Le Tissier as he was a naturally talented player who did not require much training or engaging in complicated tactics of pressing and tracking back.

In short, he could win games while having the ball on his feet, but he was quite lazy without it. In his career Matt Le Tissier scored many goals and gave much happiness to the Southampton fans, to the point of becoming an icon of English football at the time and this caused the interest of the most important clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea and even foreign clubs like Atlético Madrid or Lazio to get his services.

Some of these offers were accepted by Soton but rejected by the player whose only wish was to remain in Southampton. For those of you who don’t know him, check out Le Tissier’s talent on YouTube and you will find a genius who was as talented as some of the best in the game.