10 Best One-Club Men In Football History
Who tops the sport's loyalty list?
With the money and fame circulating football nowadays (Gareth Bale earns £600,000-per-week, are you kidding me!?), loyalty appears a tough trait to come by in the sport's current state. Long gone are the days of rising through a club's youth system, earning your place in the first-team, and serving your childhood club until the day you hang up the boots and try your hand at management or punditry.
Instead, the modern roster of stars search for fresh challenges, new experiences and sometimes for the closest clubs to the best yachts, villas and high-paying owners. We won't name anyone, but the list of highest-earners in the Chinese Super League makes for interesting reading - although for the dollar the likes of Hulk have made in the CSL, I'd be on a plane to Beijing quicker than you could say 'money-chaser'...
Trying to keep track of the big-money moves and controversial transfers in modern windows can be difficult, so it's always good to reminisce of the loyal stars of the past who maintain the one-club ideals of some of our footballing ideals. With that being said, in this list, WhatCulture looks at the best one-club men in football history!
10. Carles Puyol
Carles Puyol is without a doubt one of the greatest central defenders of his generation, although given the tendency for the position to produce the top one-club players in football, you may be seeing that line more than once on this list...
Spending his entire senior career with Catalan-giants Barcelona, the Spaniard established himself as a Blaugrana legend across his 593 competitive appearances in their famous colours. Across a 16-year senior career with one of Europe's most successful clubs starting in 1999, the La Pobla de Segur-born defender captained the side from 2004 after taking over from Luis Enrique.
Boasting the versatility managers dream of, the former UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year defender was more than capable of filling the side's right-back slot, and despite his success and clear position at the top of the back-line elite, never seemed like someone who we'd see in any shirt other than that of Barcelona. Ultimately not many in history come close to the commanding presence, ability to read the game and pinpoint tackling Puyol implemented at the Nou Camp for well over a decade.
One-club players don't come much more legendary (judging by this list only nine do...) than Puyol. Just featuring for a side like Barca for so long, yet alone leading them to six La Liga titles and Champions League glory on three occasions, seals the 42-year-old's entry on this list. He even won the 'One-Club Man Award' in 2018, so how could we not include him?