Best in the world in their position is also an incredibly high bar. Baines might have been in the top half dozen at best.
I think a reasonable case could probably be made for Lineker, who was absolutely on fire that year domestically and internationally, but wouldn't go-beyond top three.
Football wasn't subject to as much carpet coverage as it is now and fans, papers, other media only had a very limited view of other leagues and country's players. Only times lots of players got together would have been world cups and even then papers, tv and radio only got a selected few matches to cover.
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