Marco van Basten: the greatest striker of all time?

Style and Substance

Excellence is a timeless aspiration for mankind. Excellence is difficult to judge. Declaring a player or team as superlative is even more contentious. Nevertheless, there is inherent value in establishing the superlative.

Most of those who watched Marco van Basten, would assert that he’s the best striker of all time. While van Basten’s legend in history is secure, can he be called the greatest #9 of all-time?

The height and the cruel blow

Making his Ajax Amsterdam debut with just the one appearance in the 1981–82 season, van Basten played a further 5 seasons for them before moving to AC Milan for £1m in 1987; a fee now considered an incredible bargain, especially when Ruud Gullit was also acquired in the same season by Berlusconi for a £6m world-record fee. His first season in Milan was blighted by an ankle injury, leading to a paltry 11 appearances. The arrival of Rijkaard in 1988 meant that the trio from the European champion Dutch side, were installed at AC Milan, ready to embark on their historic era, starting with winning the European Cup. In the following season (89/90), van Basten would be capocannoniere. He repeated that feat in 91/92 season, while also collecting his record-equalling third Ballon d’Or. It would be 20 years (2012) before Messi’s fourth Ballon d’Or surpass this record.

The 92/93 season saw the beginning of the end. Injury issues flared up, again, and the 0–1 loss to Marseille in the inaugural final of the newly formed Champions League would end up being van Basten’s final outing in the Rossoneri colours. Aged just 28, he had played his final club game. To add salt to injury, in more ways than one, the venue for this defeat would be the same Munich Olympiastadion where he had scored his immortal volley for the Netherlands in 1988. van Basten remained on Milan’s roster for two more seasons but did not feature at all due to his ankle surgery. In August 1995, he announced his (forced) retirement, prematurely ending his glittering career.

Criteria

While van Basten is undoubtedly an all-time great, can he be considered the best striker of all-time? To decide, we need to define a selection group, and some decision criteria.

Selection Pool

For the selection pool, I’ll focus on three strikers widely considered to be the best: Gerd Muller, van Basten and Ronaldo Nazario.

To accurately compare van Basten, we have to look at career strikers. Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele, Puskas etc., I class as forwards, even though they may have been deployed as strikers at various times. While I can include other strikers like Henry, Batistuta or Ibrahimovic, I feel that, with due respect, the calibre of the selection pool can cover for them.

Criteria

To provide a holistic comparison, I’ve devised 3 criteria:

• Individual honours
• Goals
• Style

The first two are quantitative measures. Style is a qualitative assessment. Combining these three should give us a composite score. This composite metric will transpire automatically as we progress with the discussion. For this reason, I shall reveal it later.

“Marco van Basten remains for me the best striker of all time…I above all remember him for his elegance, his grace and his incredible quality” — Arrigo Sacchi

Substance

Individual honours

The following table shows the ranked comparison of our selection pool. I’ve weighted Ballon d’Or as 3 points because it’s the premier individual award, is hard to get, and has been around for the prime of our selected players. Individual honours are 1 point each. I’ve also converted the esteemed World Soccer magazine’s 100 Players of the Century list into a 1- or 2-point score.

van Basten leads this ranking narrowly edging out Muller, with Ronaldo a distant third. On this basis, we can narrow down our subsequent comparison to just Gerd Muller and van Basten.

Goals

Gerd Muller’s profile is legendary. His records for club and country stood for an incredible 40–50 years before being broken by Messi and Robert Lewandowski. Muller scored 524 goals from 573 appearances for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, adding a staggering 68 goals from just 62 appearances for West Germany. His strike rate of 0.91 and 1.10 respectively can for all purposes be considered unmatchable. Muller played 14 seasons for Bayern and 3 seasons for Fort Lauderdale Strikers before retiring.

Van Basten scored 280 goals from 379 club appearances (S/R 0.74). His record for the Netherlands is rather average: 24 goals from 58 appearances.

Van Basten is perhaps the biggest what-if story of football. There may be some similarity with Ronaldo. Injuries wreaked havoc with both players — in their prime. While Ronaldo made a comeback from his injury plagued years at Inter, van Basten’s career ended abruptly. When he was subbed off the 1993 Champions League final after a tackle, no one would’ve imagined that he’d played his final football game. Tackles contributed to a lot of van Basten’s ankle injuries. When the “tackle from behind” was finally outlawed, many feel it was at inspired by van Basten’s plight.

Despite ongoing issues with his ankle from his final years at Ajax, van Basten was a prolific marksman. His best strike rate in AC Milan colours (0.8 and 0.9) was in his final two seasons. Had his injury subsided or had been cured, he could’ve had at least 3 seasons at AC Milan, taking him to the 1995/96 season. Extrapolating from that, and in light of the strong AC Milan team of that time, he would’ve had every chance to uplift his strike-rate to at least 0.8.

For comparison, the strike rate of some current and former greats, for senior club appearances in top European leagues, is shown below. It shows how outrageous Muller’s rate was, and how despite being his career ending prematurely, and despite playing through injury for the latter half of his career, van Basten’s strike rate is quite respectable, by all standards.

Strike Rate

“He could score goals in every possible way; spectacular goals, tap-ins, individual goals. He was the complete footballer” — Demetrio Albertini

Style

Style is difficult to judge. In football though, we are helped by an unlikely ally — monikers. For most part, player nicknames have zeroed in on their most salient quality. With his hurricane like power matched with lightning speed and control, no wonder Ronaldo was called O Fenomeno. Maradona’s mazy run vs England in 1986 made him El Pibe d Oro (the golden boy). The (relatively) pint-sized wizard Messi is La Pulga Atomica (the atomic flea). For Pele, the greatest player of all time, it’s simply O Rei (The King).

Gerd Muller was called Der Bomber. The way he rained goals on the opposition would not be too far from a B-52 Stratofortress analogy. With a low centre of gravity and powerful thighs, Muller used his natural balance, explosive pace over short-distances, and uncanny eye for goal, to become a lethal striker. Despite being an extremely effective all-round striker, he was however not considered very aesthetic.

Enter van Basten, whose aesthetic appeal earned him the nickname of the Swan of Utrecht. At 6ft 2″ van Basten’s combination of physique, technical ability and finesse made him the complete striker. Blessed with pace, intelligence, power and accuracy, van Basten scored the complete array of goals ranging from opportunistic strikes to penalties, free-kicks, bicycle-kicks to volleys. His childhood training as a gymnast no doubt contributed to his graceful movement, poise, acrobatic ability and elegance.

Style and substance — van Basten had both. Substance won him numerous individual honours. His style won him immortality. There was nothing he could not do. His incredible sliding goal against the hosts West Germany, two minutes from time, saw the Dutch reach their first ever European Championship final in 1988. Here the stage was set for van Basten’s masterpiece. Playing against USSR in the final, van Basten provided the appetizer — an assist for captain Gullit to open the scoring. Then, in the 54th minute, van Basten scored the jaw-dropping volley, to seal victory in stupendous fashion.

Van Basten’s spectacular volley from an impossible angle, remains an enduring example and an asymptotic benchmark of elegance.

The story of the goal only accentuates our appreciation. Arnold Muhren, prioritizing time over precision, as the Dutch broke forward, put a floated a cross to van Basten which by his own admission was a “little too far”. As many commentators have summarized, van Basten could have taken a conventional option of either controlling it or letting it go (for a goal-kick). To the utter surprise, and relief of everyone, particularly his team-mates, van Basten made the risky decision to attempt a volley — from the impossible angle. When the ball thundered past a reeling Dasayev into the goal, Rinus Michels’ reaction, of covering his face with his hands, captured the stupor that van Basten’s volley had induced in every one watching — on or off the pitch. While people appreciate the goal, what goes under the radar is the confidence to take this shot followed up by the practiced technique to execute it. The volley perhaps revealed an inner gymnast, who attempts ever more risky and challenging routines with decisive confidence and appropriate technique.

While many strikers and forwards have left enduring impressions of their style, the Swan of Utrecht remains untouchable. Style, substance, confidence, precision — van Basten had everything. While is skill was impeccable, it’s his graceful style that endures in the memory of fans.

“Marco was the greatest centre forward that I’ve ever trained, he was a swan. Marco remains the greatest in his role. It was such a shame that he was forced to retire at 28. It was a mortal misfortune for him, for football, and for Milan.” — Fabio Capello

Marco van Basten — the cut above

In terms of criteria devised, Muller comes out top on goals but is edged out by van Basten in terms of individual honours. In terms of style and aesthetics, and especially when we talk about strikers, van Basten really has no peer.

But how much should style count in the final assessment? Statistics have a time value. Eventually, they get overtaken or they become obsolete. Muller is the best example of that. His records took up to 5 decades to be surpassed — but they were. Ironically, while Muller’s prolific scoring is central to his legend, he is remembered just as much for being the supreme goalmouth poacher. van Basten is similar but in a different way. While his goal-scoring records might be lower, his style is immortal, and perhaps also unsurpassable.

Style is important. Despite being qualitative, it’s arguably, it carries the same weight as the most important quantitative measure. With this in mind, our final metric for evaluation is weighted as follows:

• Individual honours — 40%
• Goals — 20%
• Style — 40%

Goals are weighted the least for two reasons: they can be subject to many variables, and because they form the basis for individual honours also.

With van Basten having the edge in the two criteria which account for 80% of our weighted metric (individual honours and style), we know that he will come out top overall also.

“Right foot. Left foot. Heading, so strong, fast. He could score, he could pass the ball. He was the best. The way he played was timeless. He had to quit when he was 28. Surgery. Stupid surgery to the ankle. It was such a pity.” — Paolo Maldini

For those who saw van Basten play, there is no doubt about his stature. That anecdotal assertion finds support through this structured analysis. Despite his struggles with injury, and despite being forced to effectively retire at the age (28) when strikers like Lukaku are being procured for a club record fees (£97.5m), van Basten’s accolades, goal-scoring and style still compares very favourably to other all-time great strikers.

There is every reason to believe that Marco van Basten was, on the whole, the greatest striker, the greatest classic #9, of all-time.

Having made that point, it’s probably not a comparison that purists, or indeed van Basten’s fans, will dwell on for too long. Paradoxically, such a comparison may also detract from van Basten’s true legacy, which is more about giving us a glimpse of the upper echelons of excellence, grace and completeness rather than being merely about output or ranking.

The image of the swan comes to mind. A swan belongs to broader family of ducks and geese. As waterfowl, all are equally adept for their surroundings. There is however something distinctively beautiful about the swan. Despite being one of the largest birds to fly, it combines speed and agility with silky elegance; being acclaimed most often for the latter. Style and substance reinforce each other. In the Swan of Utrecht’s case, both intertwined seamlessly to create a spectacular specimen of a striker par excellence.

If you liked this post, you will also enjoy reading my book Superlative Football.