The most pimp footballers of the 2000s

"The pimp is always in vogue, because it is never fashionable"

We borrow the words of Italian artist J-Ax traced in a masterpiece of Italian music dated 1996 "Il Funkytarro", to tell you that we have decided, without having the slightest need, to take a trip to Tamarreide and precisely in that of the late 2000s, when the level of pimp of the footballers that trampled the green fields of soccer of our "belpaese" (but not only) was on a level not even comparable to today.
Dear Bernardeschi going around with your skirt, you will never be able to compete with Fabrizio Miccoli's eyebrows, you Neymar that seem to come from a music video of Alessio you will never reach the peaks of Mexes, you Naingolann you can never touch the peaks where he has had the courage to push Antonio Cassano.

So we are ready to line up the most pimp players of the '00s.

FABRIZIO MICCOLI

What has always fascinated us about Fabrizio Miccoli, starting from the times of Ternana, passing through Benfica via Torino, was his pure, crystalline class, that talent which is only of a few, of a very few. That ability to touch the ball like another soccer giant of all time, "O Baixinho" Romario. Called the "Romario del Salento" due to its Salentine origins - Fabrizio was born in Nardò in the province of Lecce - this time we leave aside the intoxicating dribbles and the powerful and precise shoot and concentrate on the look of Fabrizio Miccoli. Those diamonds in the ears, that tattoo on the neck that depicts the kiss of his wife imprinted on his skin with imperishable memory, I also remember a little bling set in his teeth but I could be wrong. 
His distinguishing feature, however, was his eyebrows. Everything that can be humanly drawn on an eyebrow, he tried it. In zigzag, in tufts, one yes and one no, both; Fabrizio Miccoli has made his eyebrows a trademark. We could not refrain from making it right again among the most pimp footballers at the end of the 2000s. Thanks Fabri!

PHILIPPE MEXES

What a champion. Outside the field he had no rivals, he declared in an interview with France Football:

"Look atypical? But they were part of a character. In Italy I lived passion, love and hate. In Rome as in Milan."

I don't know which character Philippe was referring to, but one thing is certain, that character was a real pimp! Here I really can't add words to define: pink t-shirts with vertiginous necklines combined with light jeans, ruined with big pockets and low waist. Pouches of dubious taste that would make you shudder and then close, posing like a Backstreet Boys with white tank top spring from the underpants (and underpants) in plain sight and jeans ugly, but ugly very strong. Hair constantly wet and often kept with a sort of "Tuppo" of Neapolitan memory, Philippe Mexes delighted us until he decided to quit football and dedicate himself to private life in 2016 but to me, it seems like a lifetime has already passed.

ANTONIO CASSANO 

Apart from all that Antonio Cassano has been able to do on and off of the field, there is a precise moment that made Antonio di Bari Vecchia take the definitive leap in the ascent towards the cheek of the tamaris. We are in January 2006, Cassano now on course with Rome - on expiry of the contract he refused the renewal for 3.2 million euros a year - after three years in the Giallorossi Antonio lands in Madrid and moves to the Real of the Galacticos after a summer session somewhat heated market. He arrived at the airport with a disproportionate amount of suitcases, accompanied by his girlfriend of the time, Rosaria Cannavò, wearing a white sweatshirt, a leather jacket with a fairly incurable fur coat and the inevitable diamond earrings.
But the masterpiece arrived at the official press presentation at the Santiago Bernabeu with Emilio Butragueno. The jacket he chose for the most important day of his life will remain immortal: I don't think there is need to describe it, you all know it, it is simply the jacket with the worst fur in history. It will resurface in our minds and hearts whenever we hear the name of Antonio Cassano uttered. We close the chapter on FantaAntonio with the words pronounced by himself at the end of the presentation: "Muchas gracias, Hala Madrid!". But thanks to you Anto'!

RICARDO QUARESMA

Here in our newsroom when talking about the Trivela, the clocks stop. We are all in love with Ricardo Quaresma and his "sobriety" is one of the reasons why we love him so much. Quaresma is a kaleidoscope of emotions, colours, haircuts that to define extremes is a euphemism and outfits to the limits of legality. How not to love the "golden feather" inlaid in his hair or the very narrow white pants that she wears very often. But even the shoes he wears are a masterpiece, in short, Ricardo Quaresma is an idol, our idol here in Tamarreide.

ABEL XAVIER 

Here, however, we must stop for a moment and reflect. The standard achieved by the hairstyles sported by the former Portuguese player and current coach of Mozambique is impossible to replicate for any human being on the globe. We were lucky enough to see and admire Abel Xavier in Italy in two fleeting apparitions: the first in Bari in 95/96, the second in Rome in 2004/2005. On the performance in the field we say that we can postpone but instead what he could do with his hair was worth the price of two tickets not of one only. The camp withdrawal came in 2009, converted to Islam and changed its name: call it Feisal. Below a series of marvels. You are welcome.

FRANCESCO COCO

There will be no more iconic image than that of Francesco Coco and Manuela Arcuri together beautiful and pimp going to the sea. Francesco has a brown tank top that I would dare to call terrifying combined with a very small costume and a hair band like a necklace. The apotheosis of the pimp we could call it, Francesco has studded his life and his career of questionable choices both from an aesthetic point of view - such as when he showed off a white suit choosing a t-shirt (always white) with a Mexes neckline for a public release always with Arcuri - who from a professional point of view outside of football: in the summer of 2007 he was responsible for the public relations of the Billionaire in Porto Cervo and in September he participated in the Island of the Famous abandoned only after a few weeks for not well specified "personal reasons". Ah, in 2017 he launched his own brand of socks. Francesco Cono was an icon of Tamarreide and we celebrate it. Viva Coco!

DJIBRIL CISSÉ 

Since the theme "pimp players and where to find them" has always fascinated us, we have dedicated a whole article to that prodigy named Djibril Cissé. I refer you to that article to learn more about how the supreme Djibril is perhaps the most eclectic and pimp player in the history of the universe. Here is a series of outfits of our arbiter elegantiae to give you the idea of what a human being can do in front of a wardrobe, and what wardrobe. An absolute myth closes our journey in the Tamarreide of the 2000s, it was beautiful but like all the trips that leave you something maybe it's better not to go back to avoid being disappointed. Good return home.