3. Eric Cantona
Club: Manchester United.
Perhaps the most charismatic, controversial and talented footballer to grace the game in England since George Best, Cantona was one of the first foreigners to make it in the Premier League.
The Frenchman is also the only player in history to win consecutive league titles with two different clubs – Leeds in 1992 and United in 1993 – but like Ronaldo 12 years later, the 1995/96 Premier League triumph was Cantona’s.
The forward missed almost the entire previous campaign, won by Blackburn Rovers, with an infamous kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan earning the United man an eight-month ban.
In five years at Old Trafford Cantona won four league titles and two FA Cups (scoring in both finals), before retiring to pursue a film career in 1997.
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