To be fair, he was better than most of what we had then.
I can think of quite a few I really thought would be the players to take us up a notch but didn't in the PL era.
You've all said Rebrov
John Scales and Jamie Redknapp
Les Ferdinand and David Ginola
On paper they're all experienced players that came from clubs who regularly finished above us.
Yes Ginola was magic but he didn't really elevate us like we thought. Harsh on him but compare that to Bale who dragged us up to the next level on his own....
Sir Les was a great CF, but always injured
Scales and Redknapp, as far as could tell, were just at Spurs for south east heat and an easy run to retirement