Gary Lineker picks his top Premier League XI - and leaves out England legend
Gary Lineker has picked his favourite Premier League XI, with the likes of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez both making the cut - but there's no room for Frank Lampard
Gary Lineker has notably excluded Frank Lampard in his list of top 11 Premier League players. The football pundit hosted his last Match of the Day show on Sunday evening, commemorating the event by naming his all-time favourite Premier League stars.
The ex-England forward is stepping down from the presenting role amid controversy surrounding his social media activities. He has publicly apologised for an Instagram post that evoked criticism, featuring a rat and making references to Zionism.
In his distinguished career spanning over two decades since 1999, the 64-year-old has become a household name as the face of Match of the Day. During his 26 years presenting the programme, Lineker has accumulated extensive insight into the Premier League's greatest talents.
However, selecting a mere 11 favourites proved challenging, reports the Mirror. Embracing his roots with Tottenham and loyalty towards Leicester City, Lineker highlighted some inevitable picks including Jamie Vardy, whom he praised effusively on the Premier League website. "My Leicester bias obviously, but it's for what he's done at Leicester, coming to the club when he was in his mid-20s, [costing] a million quid," he commented.
"He's just left, he's just finished for Leicester and he's been incredible. Goal scoring machine."
Riyad Mahrez received high praise for his performance in Leicester City's memorable 2016 title victory, with Gary commenting: "More than anything else, it was [because of] his first touch, he brought it down like it was always a feather landing on his foot. I've never known anyone with such a touch, he's right up there with the likes of – not his overall ability, but in terms of his first touch – any of the players that you can think of."
Discussing his selection criteria, Lineker said it was based on "players that have given me a lot of pleasure, a lot of joy, over the period of time that I've presented the Premier League". He acknowledged other football greats and current stars, including Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne, and Mohamed Salah.
However, Chelsea and England legend Lampard surprisingly didn't make his list. Explaining the exclusion Gary said: "Frank Lampard to start with – a goalscoring midfield player who was incredible. It was difficult leaving out people like Frank because I know him well. Trent [Alexander-Arnold] was really hard, and [David] Beckham as well – he is another one, a little bit like De Bruyne, that I would have loved to have played with."
Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale were both chosen for having dazzled the Premier League with their performances for Chelsea and Tottenham respectively. But big names like Luis Suarez, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, N'Golo Kante, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, David Silva, and David Beckham were noted only as honourable mentions.
Full list of Gary Lineker’s favourite 11 Premier League players: Jamie Vardy, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Eden Hazard, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Gareth Bale, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane.