Arsenal legend reveals who he thinks is the best Premier League player EVER

The Premier League has featured some incredible players since its inception in 1992.

Among the list of the great footballers to grace England’s top division over the past 32 years are five Ballon d’Or winners – in Ruud Gullit, George Weah, Michael Owen, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric.

Current stars Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and Liverpool forward Mo Salah are also widely considered to be world class.

But former Arsenal ace Paul Merson did not pick any of the aforementioned names recently when he was asked to pick the best player in Premier League history.

Merson did not even name fellow Gunners legend Thierry Henry, who is the club’s all-time record scorer with 228 goals in 337 games. According to Merson, Henry is only the second best player the Premier League has ever seen.

Merson’s No 1 is another ex-Arsenal striker in the shape of Dutch dynamo Dennis Bergkamp.

Explaining his decision, Merson told Jeff Stelling on the Football’s Greatest podcast: ‘I’ve gone for Thierry Henry as No 2. You could easily make a case for him to be number one, in my opinion. Easily.

‘He is the only player I’ve ever seen in the Premier League look like a 20-year-old playing in an Under 12s league.

‘[But as No 1] I’ve gone for a player who is the best player I’ve ever played with by a million miles. I didn’t think a professional footballer could be that good. [It’s] Dennis Bergkamp.

‘He was unbelievable. I had a good brain, I could see things on a football pitch. I had good vision. But I’d never seen anything like him.

‘He had eyes in the back of his head. He was as cool as ice. You ask anyone who played with him… all the forwards wanted to played with him.

‘You talk to Thierry Henry… he’d say Dennis Bergkamp. Ian Wright [would say] Dennis Bergkamp.

‘If you made a run, he would find you. He just had everything.’