I'd been thinking about this in recent weeks. But a comment in the Guardian this morning about the only difference between the teams yesterday was Rooney (though Phil Dowd obviously helped them...) got me thinking about it again.
We have a good team, and some good players but no real world class stars.
Just looking at this season:
Against Arsenal we were matching them pretty well until Fabregas came on scored twice and trotted off again.
Against Liverpool we were fine until Torres stepped up in the last minute and finished us off (and in the past Gerrard has done so).
Against Utd it wasn't so clear cut as in the other games mentioned above, and obviously Valencia and Dowd played their part, but I think it's fair to say Rooney was the main difference between the teams.
I think it's a bit different with Chelsea, although they have Drogba, I think they're very strong in other parts of the team and the rest of their team is significantly stronger than our basic team with players like Essien, Anelka, Terry (some would argue), Ashley Cole etc etc.
So if we put a 'world class' player in our team would it push us up into top 4 regulars and title challengers, or is more required?
Just to be clear I'm NOT looking for suggestions of players who can take us to the next level. Just how far away we are and maybe where they should play (either central midfield or striker I guess).
edit: Definition of world class for the purposes of this thread - Doesn't necessarily have to be the best player in their position in the world. But in the top 5 or so I reckon. Basically, one of the best players in the world. I don't think it's necessarily something you can quantify.
And as we're talking about attacking players, the sort who've got that bit of magic that can pretty much win a Premiership game on their own, like Fabregas did against us this season.