The last player in this series was in my opinion the first World Class African footballer, George Weah.

I first seen George Weah during his PSG days after they signed him from Monaco where a certain Arsene Wenger had signed him. Weah never forgot Wenger & when he won World Player of the Year in 95 he gave Arsene special credit for his success. Weah won a Ligue 1 championship winning medal with the Parisian club. At PSG he was quickly noticed by the top clubs, with his nonsense powerful & direct style.

1995 was a huge year for George Weah, not only was he crowned the Worlds, European & African Player of the Year, he also signed for AC Milan for £6m. He soon made an impact bullying Serie A Centre Backs & causing havoc every time he entered an Italian pitch. He scored 11 Serie A goals in his debut season & his brute strength & pace were simply unstoppable at times. Weah would win his first Scudetto that year before repeating the feat in the 98-99 season. He probably deserved more medals at AC but he was up against a great Juve team at that time.

There are a few goals I can vividly remember seeing top of that list is Zidane’s goal for Real against Leverkusen in the Champions League at Hampden. Right up there though was George Weah’s box to box goal against Verona in 1996! He picked the ball up inside his own box after a Verona corner, then set off in a powerful direct run up field. He dodged two challenges just past the centre circle & continued with the ball. He then skipped past another Verona player & was now nearing down on goal. As he entered the oppositions box the keeper came out to meet him, then Weah just powered home a great strike. Scoring one of the most memorable goals of all time. You can view it here.

Another incident I remember clearly was Weah breaking Porto’s Jorge Costa’s nose after racial taunts. Weah was banned for six Champions League games for the offence.

George’s time at Milan ended pretty tamely, he was forced out by Alberto Zaccheroni who played him out on the wing or dropped him in favour of a young Andriy Shevchenko. He left a legend though scoring 53 times in 126 games for the Rossoneri. He left for England & had brief spells with Chelsea & Man City, winning the FA Cup with the London side. He return to France to play for Marseille this time before ending his career in the U.A.E.

George was unlucky never to play in a World Cup. For Liberia he scored an impressive 22 goals in 60 caps. He was always committed to his country & would later in life pay for their strips & flights. Weah was also recognised as being Africa’s Best Player of the Century.

Outside of Football George Weah is huge with his charity work for his homeland & children. In 2005 he ran to become the Liberian President but was ultimately unsuccessful. He spends a lot of his time in the States with his family & his son George Jr plays for Fc Baden in Switzerland after being released by AC Milan.

George Weah an African great, a Serie A hero & perhaps a future president!

Posted on April 5th, 2011 by scott
Filed under: Serie A Heroes