Rio Ferdinand says that Alan Shearer wouldn’t get into his list of top 10 all-time Premier League players – because he didn’t win enough.
Shearer was named alongside Thierry Henry as the first two inductees into the Premier League Hall of Fame last week.
The Newcastle and England striker is the Premier League’s highest ever goalscorer, netting 260 goals across spells with Blackburn Rovers and the Magpies.
Henry, meanwhile, scored a total of 175 league goals for Arsenal, as well as winning two Premier League titles.
Ferdinand chose the Frenchman in his top 10, and explained his reasons from omitting Shearer.
He said on his YouTube channel ‘Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE‘: “It’s hard to not put [Steven] Gerrard in, but my criteria I’m going on is winning the Premier League and consistency.
“That’s why Gareth Barry doesn’t get in, and Alan Shearer won’t get in my first 10. They were great – as great as they were, they didn’t win enough for me.”
Shearer’s career path
Shearer began his career with Southampton, netting 13 goals in the First Division in his final season with the club before moving to Blackburn.
At Rovers, he scored more than 30 goals in three of his four campaigns, and lifted the Premier League at the end of the 1994/95 season.
In 1996, he moved to Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United for what at the time was a world-record transfer fee.
Shearer netted 25 goals in the league that season, and although Keegan resigned in January 1997 after a poor run of form, the Magpies saw a resurgence under new boss Kenny Dalglish and finished in second.
From then on, Shearer scored more than 20 goals in three of his final seven seasons with Newcastle.
He retired from football in 2006, having become the club’s highest-ever league and cup goalscorer earlier on in the campaign.
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