Poll: Who is the Hardest Working Player in Football?

By: Daryl | September 8th, 2009

Yesterday we asked Offside readers to sound off and let us know who the hardest working player in world football was. We had a great response which helped us define “hard working” a little more specifically. As well as running around, and putting the hours in at training, concepts like willingly playing out of position (Dirk Kuyt) and sheer number of minutes played (Javier Zanetti) were raised.

Based on the responses we received yesterday, I’ve narrowed it down to a shortlist of the most (and most convincingly) nominated players, and put those names into a poll. They are:

Dirk Kuyt: The Dutch striker plays out of position on Liverpool’s right wing, and makes up for his lack of ~~skill~~ tricks with a willingness to run, run, run and then run some more. Unlike certain other strikers who’ve been asked to play out wide (looking at you Craig Bellamy), Kuyt never complains. Mostly because he knows Fernando Torres is at least three times more talented, but still.

Carles Puyol: The Barcelona captain makes the list not just for carrying around that massive mane, but also for representing the concept of training hard. According to Iggy anyway.

Vincenzo Iaquinta: The Juventus and Italy man does many things not normally asked of a striker who can score goals, which he can. A proper team player who will hassle opposition defenders.

Michael Essien: Chelsea’s Ghanaian midfielder could stand in the centre circle and ping passes around and still be a quality footballer. But you don’t get a nickname like Bison unless you charge around the pitch. Even more impressive is that he seems to be everywhere at once, but never caught out of position. Which takes some doing. Essien also gets a “willing to play anywhere” badge, for comfortably slotting in at defensive mid, centre, mid, right mid, right back and centre back.

Ivica Olić : Bayern’s new Croatian signing is like a left sided Dirk Kuyt, in that he’ll play either striker or left wing. Olic can match Kuyt for incredible work rate and stamina, but is also capable of doing it with great pace.

Rino Gatusso: Milan’s defensive mid got a few mentions. As commenter “oossSS” rather harshly put it: “He sucks but he keeps running like a bull he is a talentless but tireless player.”

Javier Zanetti: You don’t get to be an overlapping full-back at the age of 36 unless you’re a serious hard worker. Zanetti also gets props because – according to Inter blogger MAD – he’s missed just one game for Inter in three years.

Carlos Tevez: Part of me suspects Carlitos’ reputation as a hard worker was boosted by his juxtaposition with Dimitar “not now, thanks” Berbatov last season. But you can’t doubt the man’s ability to run around and look keen.

Poll is below:

If there’s anyone missing that you think deserves to be on the poll, then make a case for that player in the comments. If there’s enough popular support we can make a late addition.