Ah man! No way. Breen had his foibles at times but you’re grossly under rating him. Take any metric. Market value?. There was a period when he transferred for £2.5m at a time when the top defenders were moving for maybe a little more than twice that, even outside of England. Granted it was the mid 90s, pre Bosman and before the premier league was globalised to the current degree. but there’s no way Egans value would ever be tethered to the current premium going rate in the way Breens was. He was better than Egan is, by any metric.
Linked with a move to Barcelona in his day, and would have moved to Inter in 2002 only he failed a medical. I don't think meh footballers get linked with moves to Barcelona or Inter, even back then. Robbie Keane went to Inter of course, and though they then changed manager and he was out of favour, his subsequent career clearly showed why they signed him in the first place.
It's a bit of an unfair comparison looking back as it's hard to remember exactly the players form etc at the time but if Coleman is getting ruled out now due to age or form then you have to look at Breen at that stage. Was he already released by Coventry at the time of the world cup or was he released after? West Ham picked him up but he didn't play much for them. So I think Egan would be ahead of him along with 3 or 4 others. If you're going on transfer fees then wouldn't Collins be ahead of him?
I'd say prime Carr over either actually. Although prime Carr was on the scene for a relatively short period, but he was almost unplayable at one stage.
I think he gets forgotten about because he peaked at a young enough age and missed the 02 World Cup with injury.
Collins of 2022 would not yet be ahead of Breen of 2002. In a few years, very likely……. Sure Dunne was in the 2002 squad and couldn’t get in ahead of Breen.
But your explicit statement was Egan over Breen. As pointed out, Breen wasn’t released from Coventry. He ran down the contract to capitalise on a lucrative move after the WC. He was a better player than you’re giving him credit for. He had his squeaky bum moments too though.
You’re also wrong about Stan!!
Boomshakalaka, this is a tad personal, but not asked in a manner designed to hurt: would you mind giving a rough idea of how old you are?
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Stephen Carr was certainly one of those that ~ ~ Could have been very very very high level ~ Robbed of that by injury unfortunately.
Full backs for Ireland have had a particularly hard time of it e.g Dave Langan , Jimmy Holmes, Jim Beglin, Stephen Carr, Seamás Coleman ~ All of these had injuries that stopped them coming back to the level ( to various degrees ) they were previously at.
Is there something about the fullback positions that make full backs more prone to serious injury ~ I mean in football generally ? !
Maybe wingers as well but fullbacks for Ireland have a hell of a bad time of it ! !
That was early years Dunne in fairness - seen at that point as someone with potential but he had serious lifestyle and weight management issues at that point. 2002 Dunne was in no way comparable to the player he went on to be 5 to 10 years later.
I've said my piece on Breen recently enough on here, so I won't go into it in too much detail again. He's seems like a lovely fella, but he's honestly one of the most overrated Irish players of the last 25 years. I'd have any of Egan, Collins or O'Shea (Dara) as they are today ahead of 2002 Gary Breen. Easily. I think people must have forgotten all his errors with the passing of time, but his concentration lapses, game after game, had to be seen to be believed.
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