Why do you always lump Zanetti with such eyesore kind of players like Lampard or Milner?
Zanetti is actually one of the greatest dribblers of his generation and that's not an exaggeration. It's also not an exaggeration to say that prime Zanetti would have been a top 5 dribbler in this era of generic, robotic football.
I know you're talking about the level of professionalism here, but it seems like a poor example. Especially since Lampard was called Fat Frank for the first 5 years of his career because he wasn't anywhere near the professional he became later on. (And everyone assumed he got a chance because his uncle slotted him in the first team)