Here's my nuanced take
He was an integral part of a great team, and as I mentioned his passing abilities were a perfect solution to teams doing the obvious thing and trying to mark Pirlo out of games. He gave us a second option, and his passing really came on leaps and bounds. In his first season it was terrible, but from Conte onwards it became a viable strategic option. He was the only guy with his specific mix of attributes at such a high level and without him that team would not have ticked like it did. He was clearly the weakest of the three at least defensively, but he wasn't a simple old-school CB so perhaps that's an unfair comparison*. I don't remember him blowing anybody's minds when he was at Milan, but as I've never watched many of their games that probably wouldn't be fair for me to bring up either.
The debate on whether he was good enough to be considered a club legend is moot in any case, because of him starting an argument at halftime in Cardiff, right when we needed unity and leadership, and then forcing a move to a rival club before coming crawling back the following season. It's an embarrassment that he's officially the team captain. He doesn't deserve that imo, and if I don't think he deserves to be captain of course I don't think he deserves to be a club legend.
Tuz legends section obviously, but I wouldn't give him a star outside the stadium.
PS: I laugh reacted because I actually laughed in real life just because your opinion was the opposite of mine, wasn't anything personal mein freund
*edit: also when you compare anybody to Barzagli and Chiellini during those years there are maybe like 10 defenders in history who wouldn't be the weakest one, it was a historically great defensive setup
He was an integral part of a great team, and as I mentioned his passing abilities were a perfect solution to teams doing the obvious thing and trying to mark Pirlo out of games. He gave us a second option, and his passing really came on leaps and bounds. In his first season it was terrible, but from Conte onwards it became a viable strategic option. He was the only guy with his specific mix of attributes at such a high level and without him that team would not have ticked like it did. He was clearly the weakest of the three at least defensively, but he wasn't a simple old-school CB so perhaps that's an unfair comparison*. I don't remember him blowing anybody's minds when he was at Milan, but as I've never watched many of their games that probably wouldn't be fair for me to bring up either.
The debate on whether he was good enough to be considered a club legend is moot in any case, because of him starting an argument at halftime in Cardiff, right when we needed unity and leadership, and then forcing a move to a rival club before coming crawling back the following season. It's an embarrassment that he's officially the team captain. He doesn't deserve that imo, and if I don't think he deserves to be captain of course I don't think he deserves to be a club legend.
Tuz legends section obviously, but I wouldn't give him a star outside the stadium.
PS: I laugh reacted because I actually laughed in real life just because your opinion was the opposite of mine, wasn't anything personal mein freund
*edit: also when you compare anybody to Barzagli and Chiellini during those years there are maybe like 10 defenders in history who wouldn't be the weakest one, it was a historically great defensive setup
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