The Premier League Hall of Fame inaugural class, as chosen by ESPN, includes two of the most prolific goal scorers in English soccer history and a winger with one of the longest careers in the top flight. ESPN

The NFL has one. NASA and American astronauts have one, prominently located at the Kennedy Space Center. There's one for country music, one for Alabama jazz and one for video games. Rock and Roll has one. There are ones celebrating Italian soccer, Australian cricket and Canadian baseball. You can find them in golf, basketball, tennis, rugby league, lacrosse and even pro wrestling. Even mascots have one (inaugural member: the Phillie Phanatic)!

Now, after 28 years of existence, the English Premier League is getting one, too.

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We're talking, of course, about a Hall of Fame, one of those venerable buildings devoted to excellence in a given field over an extended period of time. Glittering careers end in retirement with the potential -- with a majority of votes from their peers -- to enter a Hall of Fame. So we decided to preempt the official Premier League Hall of Fame, which was postponed from opening due to the coronavirus outbreak, by opening our own at ESPN.

What follows is the 2020 inaugural class, the first five players undoubtedly worthy of the honor, as selected by ESPN editors and writers.

There were only two criteria for inclusion in our Hall of Fame: the player must be retired from playing the sport, and he must be judged on his accomplishments in the Premier League. (Silly awards such as World Cup winners' medals don't matter here.) After our voters ranked their top 10 players of the Premier League era, we tallied the votes and enshrined the top five vote-getters for their overwhelming majority of support among our expert panel.

On Thursday, we'll debate the most notable snubs and omissions, along with the players sure to be first-ballot entrants as soon as they hang up their boots, but for now, let's celebrate the quintessential quintet who have defined the Premier League in its first three decades.

Jump to: Henry | Shearer | Giggs | Scholes | Gerrard

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Thierry Henry

Significant statistics:

-- 258 games played: 175 goals, 74 assists

-- Most Premier League goals in Arsenal history

-- Scored eight Premier League hat tricks (T-fourth all time)

-- Won the Premier League Golden Boot a record four times

-- One of only two players to win the award three seasons in a row, from 2003 to '06 (Shearer, 1994-97)

Titles won: 2x Premier League (2001-02, 2003-04), 2x FA Cup (2001-02, 2002-03)

Why he's HoF-worthy: An icon for his goals as much as his style

The biggest reason Thierry Henry is one of the best, if not the best, Premier League players in history is that regardless of whether you support Arsenal, you will always remember where you were when he scored some of his most iconic goals for the Gunners.

The solo goal over 60 yards against Tottenham at Highbury? The flick and volley on the turn against Manchester United? The slalom against Liverpool? The genius backheel against Charlton? Those are unforgivable goals, and they have left their mark on the Premier League forever, just like "Titi" himself.

The French striker was not just a quick winger who arrived in England at the age of 22, with a World Cup winner's medal already in his trophy cabinet. He also swiftly became a clinical striker, one of the best in the world, under longtime manager and mentor Arsene Wenger.

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Henry always boasted an innate, incredible talent, and he developed it by working very hard from a very young age. He also had a footballing intelligence well above that of his peers. Henry understood everything about the game and about the opposition far more quickly than anyone else. He was demanding of his teammates and especially himself, rarely content with his performances, let alone those of his teams. There was always something that could have been better. With the Frenchman, there was no place for mediocrity. Scoring a world-class goal was no reason to smile -- it was the job well done.

He was an inspiration (and still is) for generations of players because of his style. The Premier League had never seen a forward like him, with so much swagger, pace and efficiency -- and also that effervescent personality. His legacy is immense, and if it worked so well for him in England, it's because it felt like home to him from day one. -- Julien Laurens

Henry arrived in the Premier League as a World Cup winner but one who'd flopped in Serie A with Juventus and was struggling to shrug off the "mercurial" tag usually applied to players who frustrate more than they flourish. Wenger soon ripped that off him, turning Henry into arguably the most lethal forward of his generation, one who could score from virtually anywhere and whose jet-heeled pace, particularly when scything toward goal from wide positions, was simply impossible to deal with.

Ever seen a striker opening up his body and side-footing a low shot around a goalkeeper? It is a time-honoured manoeuvre, but chances are it will remind you of Henry. Such was the way he turned simplicity into sheer brilliance. -- Nick Ames