CLAUDE MAKELELE RATING

Law's high scoring in areas such as midfield may be a surprise to the casual historian but upon closer analysis of his footage in conjunction with the plethora of quotes highlighting his work-rate and all-round game, it is only just that he finally recieves recognition for being a dynamic creative powerhouse of a forward rather than being burdened with the misconception of him being a star centre-forward who was famed for being a goalscorer extraordinaire.

Nevertheless he has on the other hand, been provided with lower values than one would expect in area's such as finishing because although his 1963/64 season has stood the test of time, in general his goalscoring records were not outstanding in comparison to his peers at the time for example Jimmy Greaves, nor in comparison to other roaming forwards such as Puskas or Pele.

Furthermore for all his talent, he remained rather untested at the very highest level due to both injury and bad luck.. missing out on being a key part of the 1968 European Cup triumph, only to be the top scorer in the 1969 European Cup. The best finishers/goalscorers, have shown the ability to score on the grandest stages and keep their cool and unfortunately there is not enough evidence of Law being able to do so - and his travails in Italy also suggest that he wasn't quite the elite goalscorer that one would naturally assume.

In summary, Law was more gifted than what the history books tend to remember and yet he was also less prolific, and the stats below have been issued with that in mind.