Replace the really good top player spoken of (9)
I believe the answer is:
supersede
'replace' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'really good top player spoken of' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'top' could be 'super' (I've seen this before) and 'super' is found in the answer.
'player' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for supersede that I've seen before include "Stop using" , "Take the place of, supplant" , "Take the place of, override" , "Supplant, replace" , "set aside" .)