1. Harry Kane

He is definitely one of the most interesting players to rank and a stand out example of someone who wasn't even on the striker-list I made in the beginning of this season.

Sorry Bjorn, about twice a year I'm gonna bug you about Diego.

Is he even playing in Turkey now? I see he's logged only 10 games. Hurt? His career makes me sad and it gets worse as time goes on.

fixed

/thread

No need to thank me for saving you time, Bjørn. My pleasure.

You remind me of Diego, that is only a good thing!

It does seem like he's had a very slow start which I'm guessing is fitness related. He has started the last 3 league games though where he has 3 assists. Before that he was subbed in a couple of times so it seems they have eased him back into things.

His emergence have coincided with Emre (Turkish legend) being out a little bit so if they're going to be playing together is one to watch. Diego should be substantially better at this point though and really Turkey and Fener is a great opportunity for an extremely talented attacking player who's seen more than enough of the ups and downs of the bigger leagues to have extended success (he is on a 3 year deal) with the alluring bonus of being celebrated like a god if he just plays up to his talents.

A lesser and older Brazilian like Alex did just that at Fener into his 30s, in the end he could barely move compared to his younger self, but he had so much skill and flair that he could remain a center-piece for the team and become a legend.

Fener is a very very old team right now with so many 30+ veterans (Kuyt, Meirelles, Emre, Bruno Alves, Kadlec, Webo, Gokhan) and the youngest key players like Topal, Diego and Emenike are in their lates 20s - they need to get younger basically - but they should definitely be fighting for the championship this season so maybe you'll still see Diego star in Champions League.

Especially if Diego and Emenike can get going they easily have two of the very best players in the league.

One thing to watch with Diego is always the dribbling numbers. Will they be more Atletico/Juventus-like meaning very low or the sky-high Bundesliga levels. There seems to be very few successful dribblers in Turkey right now looking at the stats. Portugese wonderkid Bruma the most exciting so it will be a very good sign if Diego can get even near his usual levels, let's say even above 2 per game, which only two players have in Turkey, which still pales in comparison to what he did in Germany.

Here early on he is already getting fouled a lot and shooting a lot so it seems like he is very active in a good way.

1. Atsuto Uchida

Just ballpark where does Aubameyang rank overall and for his position?

Just finished all today's football.

Aubameyang I have/had 40s maybe 30s among the forwards. I think in the 30s is still my max for him atm. Right now he is right behind his polar opposite BONY.

He is in the 50s among the attacking midfielders/wingers which is a crazy deep position and to provide an update that's also the final position I'm not entirely done with.

But I have only about 40 nominated players left to rank and I think only 10 or so of those actually have a shot at top 100 at that position anyway, so I'm just being very thorough I guess.

At the latest I definitely think I'll start something tomorrow afternoon or night euro-time.

It will probably be the attacking midfielders/wingers where I can't wait to give a certain someone his long awaited due who's timing/form/career mostly have been at a low-point whenever I've done one of these things.

For those interested I did find the finished list from almost a year ago now that unfortunately went incomplete here.

I do think I manipulated it (or rather the position-ranks) a little bit during the World Cup, which is kind of silly actually, but it is untouched since then.

I'm so over that list right now and have barely looked at it but I have posted it here:

The End of 2012/13 - Mid- 2013/14 Season: 300 BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

All the position-rankings are also in that link but for good measure here is the midfielder-list (also last touched around the World Cup) that became the final hurdle for my marathon-rundowns stopping at number 27 with Di Maria (who was since edited up) ITT:

The End of 2012/13 - Mid-2013/14 Season Rankings: Top 150 Midfielders in the World

Awesome stuff Bjorn

Solid list, in the forwards list Imo Neymar is rated rather high; was this because of the World Cup hype you eluded to?

Philipp Lahm 15th best midfielder in the world. Come on, Bjørn.

Thanks and I'm still up working!

The time-period for that list is both weird and such a long time ago it feels like and a lot of arguing it is trying to dig deep in your memory.

Neymar wasn't so much the World Cup but simply that the long wait for finally seeing him every week in Europe had finally ended and I could confirm what I really thought of him with a great (top 10 it turned out) ranking. That was on the basis of his up and down first season. Or the first half of it rather - wow yhis really does feel like forever ago and he's been better since of course. We'll see if his ranking will rise too.

He'll be inside the top 10 this time, that much I can say. This was back when Lahm the midfielder was still a new thing. I don't hate that ranking so much. An excellent starting ranking I would say after not so many games there.

It's looking at some of the most dominant individuals like Aguero and Robben and where they were at in this period (according to me sadly) that really really makes me wanna do a "Chad Ford" and go back and edit. But yeah, really tough competition of course but certainly Özil (over those two) does stick out. This was around his blistering Arsenal start though and of course I already (and still do to some extent) rated him extremely highly.

people still watch soccer in 2015?

Actually having to argue that Rakitic is world class on another forum. Pretty sure the new list will confirm my side.

Hasn't proved himself in England though

Gonna be a night session...

The attacking midfielder/winger ranking will be a top 200.

That's deeper than intended so therefore many many will have arguments over many of these guys and I've probably also committed my classic sin of overlooking some players because when I shortlist I don't exactly have top 200 in mind, more like who is a possible top 100 candidate.

I'll definitely welcome name suggestions (the number 200 kid is a bit of a joke so there is at least one spot very open!) and of course all kinds of criticism (nothing is bad!) is appreciated.

Here are the 200-150 attacking midfielders/winger who I'll be back in a bit to maybe have some comments on and then continue with the rest of the list:

200 Martin Ødegaard - Norway - Real Madrid B
199 Juan Fernando Quintero - Colombia - FC Porto
198 Fabiano Orellana - Chile - Celta Vigo
197 Lucas Ocampos - Argentina - Monaco/Marseille
196 Dennis Praet - Belgium - Anderlecht
195 Lucas Piazon - Brazil - Chelsea/Eintracht Frankfurt
194 Augusto Fernández - Argentina - Celta Vigo
193 Maximilian Arnold - Germany - Wolfsburg
192 Franco Vázquez - Argentina - Palermo
191 Shkelzen Gashi - Albania - FC Basel

190 Jordan Ibe - England - Derby/Liverpool
189 Admir Mehmedi - Switzerland - Freiburg
188 Paul-Georges Ntep - Cameroon/France - Rennes
187 Oleg Shatov - Russia - Zenit
186 Georgi Milanov - Bulgaria - CSKA Moscow
185 NR 71 68 Ibrahim Afellay - Netherlands - Barcelona/Olympiakos
184 137 Sidney Sam - Germany - Schalke 04
183 89 78 Lewis Holtby - Germany - Hamburger SV
182 Georgios Samaras - Greece - WBA
181 Morgan Amalfatino - France - West Ham

180 80 57 96 Hatem Ben Arfa - France - Newcastle/Hull
179 117 80 60 Andre Ayew - Ghana - Marseille
178 Vitolo - Spain - Sevilla
177 142 Valentin Stocker - Switzerland - Hertha Berlin
176 106 62 Giuliano - Brazil - Gremio
175 112 Andros Townsend - England - Tottenham
174 Marko Arnautovic - Austria - Stoke
173 Stewart Downing - England - West Ham
172 111 73 72 Clint Dempsey - USA - Seattle
171 Talisca - Brazil - Benfica

170 Wellington Nem - Brazil - Shakhtar Donetsk
169 Victor Moses - Nigeria - Chelsea/Stoke
168 150 Salamon Kalou - Côte d'Ivoire - Hertha Berlin
167 Patrick Hermann - Germany - Mönchengladbach
166 Bruma - Portugal - Galatasaray
165 Riyad Mahrez - Algeria - Leicester
164 120 76 Christian Tello - Spain - Barcelona/FC Porto
163 Alejandro Dominguez - Argentina - Olympiakos
162 Nolito - Spain - Celta Vigo
161 Munir El Haddadi - Spain - Barcelona

160 NR 64 Stéphane Sessegnon - Benin - WBA
159 Adam Johnson - England - Sunderland
158 NR 100 47 Ganso - Brazil - Santos
157 126 Diego Tardelli - Brazil- Atletico Mineiro/Shandong Luneng
156 148 99 62 Yoann Gourcuff - France - Lyon
155 135 NR 88 Dirk Kuyt - Netherlands - Fenerbahce
154 Steven Naismith - Scotland - Everton
153 93 Nicolai Müller - Germany - Hamburger SV
152 Ricardo Goulart - Brazil - Cruzerio/Guangzhou Evergrande
151 Fabio Borini - Italy - Liverpool
150 Bojan Krkic - Spain - Stoke

and a quick note to Daca: Krohn-Dehli has found a nice home on the midfielder-list!

Bonaventura, Robinho (who will probably dominate in Brazil this season then move to China), Matias Fernandes, Gokhan Tore, Van der Vaart, Dzsudzsák, Prieto, Sammir, De Jong, Narsing are my suspect bunch/snubs looking most angry at Ødegaard but not really great inclusions even if I have soft spot for Bonaventura... Milan just so meh.

There is also Martin Harnik who for years and years have probably been the most well known player who I just remain blank on.

the least he deserves :-) he even did this tonight



Ive got it

1. Rakitic
2. Krohn-Dehli

It's not like Quintero has broken through or anything for Porto but I still think he is a little better than the comebacking showboaster Quaresma or 17 year old wonderkid (with the physique of a well build 27 year old) Ruben Neves.

I can't follow Belgian football very closely but it's my impression that Dennis Praet hasn't quite delivered on his lofty promise. Maybe even struggled with the expectations. It's fair to say that he's already been kinda surpassed by other new young Belgians. Some of them we'll see in the other positions and one of them I believe possibly the key midfielder, the actual last piece of the puzzle for Belgium to really take over. They might need a new manager though but that's a whole different matter.


I'm surprised Lucas Piazon isn't doing even more at Frankfurt but again being out on loan (which he has been all the time) can be complicated and if you're not a lot better than the direct competition for playing time clubs will often just elect to play the player under permanent contract. Maybe ranked too high?

I hated Lucas Ocampos so much at Monaco stealing playing time from the significantly better Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and before that believe it or not even in some early periods from the outstanding James Rodriguez cuz he was you know faster which is all some coaches can tunnel-vision sometimes. Meanwhile just about every time he played, the young Ocampos embodied one of those team-cancers who's actions on the field are just opposite of winning. I still have enough hate that I want to attribute Marseille's recent slump to him coming on loan there and actually starting!

Well, to be fair I haven't seen him more recently and he is obviously a very talented attacking player with flair-skills and pace. Sooner or later he should get it and become a very good player.

Maximilian Arnold is probably too low it strikes me or it's just that there isn't any great difference even from players a lot higher up... Unfortunately I didn't watch him much last season where I didn't realize he played so much. I could be wrong but I have him similar in his game-finesse-style to the smaller Max Meyer who is still to come.

Franco Vázquez is most likely too slow to ever have a great career at a big club but he is definitely more decisive than the comparable Ricardo Alvarez ever was and his partnership as the man behind and around tremendously talented striker Paulo Dybala (a long time ago already dubbed the new Aguero) can be a beautiful thing to watch.


I didn't watch Jordan Ibe in the championship. In the Premier League he immediately emerged as something of a 1v1 monster with his power and instant acceleration. It's still very new and it was also eyecatching how he would start fading physically early in games.

The championship is a good league but I still wouldn't say that the very same very impactful OPTA numbers from his short time with Liverpool are anything hugely-special during his longer sample for Derby. Maybe he came on very strong for Derby late?

Still he certainly looked talented enough that he could be one of those players who's ranking drastically improves almost with every game.

I think Georgios Samaras is injured now? But surely he is someone who could be useful for Pulis and he can get to show what he is all about in England. Based on the role played for both Greece and Celtic against good teams they just seem like a good match.

Competition is tough for Morgan Amalfatino at West Ham who's players seem to be everywhere across the different positions. They hit several home-runs on the transfermarket. Now they've added the long forgotten about Nene (who used to be on these lists but who had completely forgotten about) who is comparable to Amalfatino in his wing usefulness but at his best certainly a lot more desicive. Amalfatino is all about using his head and very good technique.

Lewis Holtby needs to be dumped further down I think. I'm not sure he should be on the list at all actually. More of a number 8 type of midfielder also.

Ibrahim Afellay was slowly but surely playing football again, now I guess the Greece government has put a stop to it.

More to come

Talisca is a total guess. Had to put him somewhere I thought. I'd be interested in any thoughts on him.

Downing the winger is Downing the winger, the better and more interesting player is Downing the midfielder who will have a decent ranking on that other list.

Since his Basel days I've really cooled on Stocker and this placement seems generous.

Salamon Kalou is still getting it done and his end product still >>ppl like Moses and Townsend who really should be a lot more useful.

Wellington Nem has been moved from the forwards to this list but just like Bernard who at least has shown some quite intriguing things at this position and maintains a decent rank I suppose absolutely nothing is happening for these really talented flair-players at Shakthar where the more physical strong Brazilians clearly are being preferred by Mircea Lucescu.

Tello doesn't have the on-ball varied skill or intelligence to star at Barca. Even another reject Nolito is better there, not to mention Munir's brief impressive showings, but his off-ball movement and ball-striking moving inside from the wing can still be useful.

Speaking of useful there is Patrick Hermann who I've just never judged to be very talented. On the opposite scale Bruma is emerging as one of the most talented young attacking midfielders. He is doing just fine in Turkey with OPTA numbers as you could hope for.

Alejandro Dominguez = still getting it done by being all kinds of smart on and off-ball. Only the Greek government can stop him.

Both are kinda putting it together again, even if it isn't exactly sensational and certainly the elegant Frenchman is being overshadowed by younger better teammates, but right now this period of time Gourcuff>Ganso just makes sense.

Diego Tardelli and Goulart are exclamation points when it comes to the trend where the best and most influential attacking players (often with lots of flair) in Brazilian football moves to China.

Bojan!!!



As a striker he's been flopping everywhere for years but lo and behold for Stoke on cold Tuesday nights taking attacking-midfielder positions a lot of the time, his skill and whatever remains of the Barcelona-intelligence markedly comes through in the English-football environment at the very least mirroring various attacking midfielder small-stature-skilled Spaniards ITBLITW.

It's a nice story.

149 - 101:



Some comments:


149 139 Gerard Deulofeu - Spain - Barcelona/Sevilla
148 85 Josue Pesqueira - Portugal - FC Porto/Bursaspor
147 98 77 Jonas - Brazil – Benfica
146 43 Bernard - Brazil - Shakhtar Donetsk
145 131 Alessio Cerci - Italy - Atletico Madrid/Milan
144 101 89 Aaron Hunt - Germany - Wolfsburg
143 50 51 77 Michu - Spain – Napoli
142 Quincy Promes - Netherlands - Spartak Moscow
141 Denis Suarez - Spain - Barcelona/Sevilla

It doesn't help that he is so extremely ambitious for himself in his actions on the pitch but I really do think Deulofeu is being held back by being on loan. He could have played a lot more for Everton and starred. The same is the case now for Sevilla, even if Sevilla have good depth in those positions. I have no idea what his future is with Barcelona. Obviously he isn't starring over the big three up front there, but in a funny way it's easier now to see Deulofeu as a first or second alternative to those stars, even competing very seriously with Pedro as an individual in a very individual sense on a team with more individuals, than it was in previous incarnations of Barcelona.


My read on Josue Pesqueira from when I watched him last season could be totally wrong but I just do not understand why he is not at a better club. I'm sure nothing is cheap when it comes to Porto but otherwise he would be a great candidate for some good team playing technical football looking for a smart, skilled, physically capable versatile player. Among the leaders in Turkish football both when it comes to creating and getting fouled. OF COURSE HE IS!

I always really liked Aaron Hunt but nothing is happening for him this season so not really sure where to rank him. It's a good sign for Wolfsburg that they don't even need a quality Bundesliga player like him.

140 Pablo Piatti - Argentina - Valencia
139 Juan Iturbe - Argentina - Roma
138 Thorgan Hazard - Belgium - Chelsea/Mönchengladbach
137 Jose Ernesto Sosa - Argentina - Atletico Madrid/Besiktas
136 Aleix Vidal - Spain - Sevilla
135 Taison - Brazil - Shakhtar Donetsk
134 Nacer Chadli - Belgium - Tottenham
133 Douglas Costa - Brazil - Shakhtar Donetsk
132 Gylfi Sigurdsson - Iceland - Swansea
131 Moussa Sissoko - France - Newcastle

Thorgan Hazard was yet another highly talented player being held back somewhat by only being at his club on a loan deal. He was mostly reduced to sub duty. That's changed now with Gladbach buying him from Chelsea and he can be seriously unleashed on the Bundesliga. A strong dribbler like his famous brother. His speed is best with the ball at his feet and it will be interesting to see just how good of a transition player he is since that's a big part of Gladbach. Certainly he has already had many impressive creative moments with the ball at his feet in the opponent half.

He can still get stronger but I'd say also favorite to be worth much more than what Gladbach paid for him in only a matter of time.

It never really made sense to me that Piatti didn't play a bigger role for Valencia. Of course he is very small but must be one of the pound for pound best players. Very skilled and very hard working. Quick feet. Quick brain.

Quite worrying when facing better competition Iturbe is starting to resemble the description Porto shoved him out of the door with:
Taison is the Brazilian with the most flair getting serious playing time for Shakhtar. But on top of the dribbling skill he is also very athletic and a hard worker.

130 Fede Cartabia - Argentina - Valencia/Cordoba
129 102 Jermain Lens - Netherlands - PSV/Dynamo Kiev
128 149 Max Meyer - Germany - Schalke 04
127 Ivan Perisic - Croatia - Wolfsburg
126 Andre Hahn - Germany - Mönchengladbach
125 143 Everton Ribeiro - Brazil - Cruzeiro/Al Ahli
124 140 Giovani Dos Santos - Mexico -Villarreal
123 97 38 46 Joaquin - Spain – Fiorentina
122 136 Kevin Volland - Germany - Hoffenheim
121 61 Clement Grenier - France - Lyon

My eyetest loves what I've seen of Fede Cartabia and of course his stats are excellent as well, right up there with the best players in Spain.

If suddenly quite rich Valencia opt for more famous bigger names, someone should try to snap up Fede Cartabia. Both making the big individual plays and the sound plays for the (not very good) team.

Andre Hahn is solid but not sure if this ranking is mistake one way or the other.

Ivan Perisic can be better and at least on paper his old-school winger-style looks like a great match for current Schürrle-De Bruyne- BAS DOST Wolfsburg.

Clement Grenier was at 61! That sounds a bit much but he was very good last season before his injury that also meant he missed the world cup. Kind of Fabregas-lite. Lyon are now excelling with both whole different pace and skills.


120 94 NR 97 Thomas Rosicky - Czech Republic - Arsenal
119 Sofiane Feghouli - Algeria - Valencia
118 Stephan El Shaarawy - Italy - Milan
117 84 Adem Ljajic - Serbia - Roma
116 145 NR 94 Markel Susaeta - Spain - Athletic Bilbao
115 104 72 Rodrigo - Spain - Valencia
114 100 NR 91 Dries Mertens - Belgium - Napoli
113 103 Lorenzo Insigne - Italy - Napoli
112 Derlis González - Paraguay - FC Basel
111 Eric Choupo-Moting - Cameroon - Schalke 04

Stephan El Shaarawy has a case for not being on the list at all. Not good for what used to be Italy's greatest talent.

Rodrigo is still too generously ranked. I will move him down. Good wide forward and that's always useful but nothing really special.

Speaking of wide-forwards I like Choupo-Moting pace and skill in space more coming from wide than the central(ish) role he's had at Schalke. But maybe he can develop like others have done before him.

More wide-forward: Derlis González is a very intriguing one who seems to manage all right things technically and physically on-ball and moves great off-ball to get into scoring positions.

Why is Sofiane Feghouli so far ahead of Piatti? SIGH.

110 Antonio Candreva - Italy - Lazio
109 Manolo Gabbiadini - Italy - Sampdoria/Napoli
108 115 Florian Thauvin - France - Marseille
107 Jefferson Montero - Ecuador - Morelia/Swansea
106 74 67 93 Jakub Blaszczykowski - Poland – Dortmund
105 Denis Cheryshev - Russia - Real Madrid/Villarreal
104 91 49 53 Jefferson Farfan - Peru - Schalke 04
103 63 41 21 Antonio Valencia - Ecuador - Manchester United
102 Rafinha Alcantara - Brazil - Celta Vigo/Barcelona
101 147 Adam Maher - Netherlands - PSV

More and more wide-forward: Gabbiadini is athletic, smart and a quality ball-striker moving inside. A nice alternative to smaller winger-types like dependable Mertens and talented but not so dependable just yet Insigne.

Jefferson Montero is a stud I'm convinced. Maybe he is being brought along slowly. Maybe they would lose him next season already if he had played all the time. But yeah, he needs to play a lot. Dyer and Routledge can be nice enough occasionally and may even have some kind of fractional off-ball edge but overall compared to Montero they're donkeys. Montero is Intelligent (maybe wasn't during his first tries in Europe), creative, fast, strongly balanced and seriously skilled.

jefferson montero seems crazy high

great to see this thread active again

100-51:



100 116 96 Alex Teixeira - Brazil - Shakhtar Donetsk
99 Yannick Ferreira Carrasco - Belgium - Monaco
98 95 Dimitri Payet - France - Marseille
97 70 Rémy Cabella - France - Newcastle
96 75 Adam Lallana - England - Liverpool
95 Raffael - Brazil - Mönchengladbach
94 86 56 99 Eduardo Salvio - Argentina - Benfica
93 65 64 44 Danny - Portugal - Zenit
92 Felipe Anderson - Brazil - Lazio
91 64 52 31 Nicolas Gaitan - Argentina - Benfica

90 72 Lazar Markovic - Serbia - Benfica/Liverpool
89 83 98 49 Kevin Prince Boateng - Ghana - Schalke 04
88 132 Gervinho - Cote d'ivoire - Roma
87 78 70 Lukas Podolski - Germany -Arsenal/Inter
86 James Ward-Prowse - England - Southampton
85 Mateo Kovacic - Croatia - Inter
84 58 22 Erik Lamela - Argentina -Tottenham
83 121 Jay Rodriguez - England - Southampton
82 92 Adnan Januzaj - Belgium - Manchester United
81 123 NR 103 Oxlade Chamberlain - England - Arsenal

I would reckon Yannick Ferreira Carrasco is already a better player with more dimensions to his game than Dimitri Payet and certainly more talented, but the former's great production and success is still hard to ignore for the time being even if a lot of his "creative" work is done on in-direct freekicks and corners where you can kind of say he is a dominating player in Lique 1.

Payet leads the league in key passes on corners and is top 5 on freekicks. He is certainly a very good delivery-man but it explains why scorepoint-wise such a prolific player the last few years can actually look quite limited in open play.

With Remy Cabella we have a welcome case of where looking at stats explain quite a lot when it comes to his underwhelming first season in England.

His dribbling total this season is at a career high with 5.2 per 90 minutes.

He has one sorry goal to show for it.

Last season his most successful ever scoring-wise with 14 goals in the league, his dribbling total per 90 was at just 3.7

This season his successful dribbling per 90 is upped to 3.1 - Last season it was only 1.2

This tells a story of player trying or having to do way too much on his own while the give and go relentless attacker from Montpelier just haven't manifested himself and he struggles getting shots on goal on his own.

I don't know if I should have stuck with my original thinking of not even including Adam Lallana on last year's attacking midfielder/winger list but I shouldn't have entered him quite so high once I caved in.

This season he is creating less for Liverpool. Attacking less I guess you can say but otherwise everything seems to be in line with his work last season. It's just another thing being at Liverpool. Expectations and all that.

I'm still not a Raffael fan but he can't be ignored even I think he flatters to deceive sometimes.

Brendan Rodgers is only taking two of the most hyped various-U levels-attacking talents in recent years and has one playing centreback (Emre Can who of course didn't cut it as a midfielder for Leverkusen) and the other Markovic (who was so talented he skipped most U-levels) as a wingback...

Emre Can the defender in a 3-man defense is working out quite well while I guess the Markovic experiment isn't a disaster. In fact I think Markovic is coping admirably in many ways but it isn't the superstar number 10 type of playmaker either as a number 10 or coming in from the wing that many were already dreaming about. We'll see what happens.

Yup, James Ward-Prowse is ready to be a key player for Southampton and it needs to be happen ASAP. He bends it like Beckham when it comes to ball-striking where he seems elite but has even more to offer in smaller-spaces with his overall technique and quick football brain. Huge talent.

Mateo Kovacic is another of one the most talented attacking midfielders around but still remains on the verge of a permanent break-through. It shouldn't be this complicated for him but at Inter that's what it keeps being under different coaches. They need to really avoid another Coutinho-situation though to be fair Kovacic has already shown more than the Brazilian ever did for Inter.

Erik Lamela pfft... I guess he was still just a talent (though a great talent of course) and his work for Tottenham basically copycats the player he was during his initial time in Italy. I got fooled and I guess Tottenham got fooled by that ultra-attacking Zeman-season where he was both scoring and creating at a very good rate. At one point for a mainly non-set piece-taker his chance creation looked really good, but of course in retrospect a lot more context could have been put into that view.

He does have games here and there where he once again looks like a sure thing.

I think one worry is that he doesn't seem to quite have what it takes (athletically really) to get the simple goals with his skilled left-foot cutting in on or off-ball from the right wing. Both things are frankly underwhelming and not happening neither in space there for the taking or when more closely marked 1v1 where there isn't even great need (at least not to the extent I expected) to foul him.

Central of the pitch seems to be his best hope where his quick feet and technique in tight spaces at his best can be decisive.

I can't quite explain the injured Jay Rodriguez movements on the list during this time period but I guess it has to do with players I think that he should be ahead based on his work when healthy. Maybe he should only be on the Forward-list.

This season hasn't been kind to Adnan Januzaj but per 90 minutes there aren't any suggestions that this excellent talent has suddenly fallen of a cliff.

He is a little bit less successful when dribbling but that seems insignificant, he is still doing serious work, while more tellingly I think, he is creating similar to last season and only all-action Di Maria is actually doing more per 90 minutes than Januzaj when it comes to key passes and most of that is crosses and set-pieces which isn't a bad thing but worth mentioning I think.

Di Maria is leading Manchester United when it comes to "other key-passes" (meaning non cross, corner, freekick or through-ball) with one every 67.9 minutes while Januzaj is second at 73.2 minutes.

80 55 47 Ezequiel Lavezzi - Argentina - PSG
79 88 74 Kevin Mirallas - Belgium - Everton
78 96 34 40 Jeremy Menez - France – Milan
77 Sadio Mané - Senegal - Southampton
76 71 Raul Garcia - Spain - Atletico Madrid
75 37 Julian Draxler - Germany - Schalke 04
74 33 24 27 Diego - Brazil – Fenerbahce
73 77 46 30 Ever Banega - Argentina - Sevilla
72 Dušan Tadić - Serbia - Twente/Southampton
71 68 42 24 Iker Muniain - Spain - Athletic Bilbao

70 42 33 56 Keisuke Honda - Japan - Milan
69 Yacine Brahimi - Algeria - FC Porto
68 73 75 Jose Callejon - Spain - Napoli
67 87 66 100 Andriy Yarmolenko - Ukraine - Dynamo Kiev
66 51 Carlos Vela - Mexico - Real Sociedad
65 39 36 Francesco Totti - Italy - Roma
64 124 Mohamed Salah -Egypt - Chelsea/Fiorentina
63 32 20 08 Wesley Sneijder - Netherlands – Galatasaray
62 66 68 54 Younès Belhanda - Morocco - Dynamo Kiev
61 36 43 37 Jesus Navas - Spain - Manchester City

In a weird twist someone like Lavezzi is doing some of the things hugely talented Oxlade Chamberlain is, sometimes grossly, neglecting. Team-work! Not least off-ball where the Ox regularly is showing poor discipline, even poor attitude (toward teammates) sometimes when it comes to defending.

Sadio Mané's strength and running is a tough matchup for opponents. Very dangerous coming forward.

The creative skillful Konoplienka is always talked about when it comes to transfers to bigger leagues but it doesn't seem to ever be happening, maybe his bigger stronger buddy on the other wing for the Ukraine national team Yarmolenko has a better chance now that he is in great form again. He is the Ukraine-Robben ffs!

Ever Banega is back with coach Emery. This time at Sevilla and suddenly he seems sorta reliable and at least resembling himself at his best.

60 46 29 12 Nani - Portugal - Manchester United/Sporting Lisbon
59 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - Gabon - Dortmund
58 Nabil Fekir - Algeria/France - Lyon
57 Kevin Kampl - Slovenia - Red Bull Salzburg/Dortmund
56 48 45 42 Andre Schürrle - Germany - Chelsea/Wolfsburg
55 130 Roberto Firmino - Brazil - Hoffenheim
54 38 Ander Herrera - Spain - Athletic Bilbao/Manchester United
53 59 84 Yevhen Konoplianka - Ukraine - Dnipro
52 Memphis Depay - Netherlands - PSV
51 35 59 59 Mathieu Valbuena - France - Marseille/Dynamo Moscow

Woah the above bunch are really good!

Nabil Fekir obviously I don't see a lot but he seems nothing short of excellent with very good technique including his ball-striking, lotsa pace and I think his balance (sorta Aguero-like with lower body? Maybe that's too lofty but he seems really hard to deal with) combined with his high skill-level is what left the strongest impression. He is also the most fouled player in France.

Kevin Kampl who runs like he is a Tour de France rider on epo. He even has sort of pro-cyclist physique which isn't that normal. Along with Mane he was a huge part of Roger Schmidt's taking pressing to the next level at Red Bull Salzburg but Kampl also has fine technique in the small spaces, both excellent touches and creative passes. His game isn't just great running he has skill and ideas when it comes to forward passing.

This post is already long enough so I think I'm saving Ander Herrera for either the midfielder (where I like him the most!) or overall ranking.

Memphis Depay puts up stats that provoke mentions of the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, RvP and Sneijder. This is the Statsbomb article that has everything when it comes to Depay and his numbers:
http://statsbomb.com/2014/08/scoutin...dros-townsend/ and it should be emphasized that his numbers are even better this season than what is touched upon in that article.

I've been impressed when I've seen him (against Ajax recently he was very active and even looked good in a bad game so to speak), even if certainly not in the Messi or Ronaldo category, but he seems to handle himself well with his physical and technical gifts in all areas of attacking midfield (like the article says his shot locations are great), I think he has good ideas in his game too though I haven't seen enough to label him a creative visionary or anything like that, BUT not least very importantly he has proven himself in the box as well (at least in Holland) which is maybe the most promising thing.

This could be both be too high or too low a ranking. I think it's the best I can rank someone right now tearing it up in Holland. I had Suarez very high back in the day but he was more established already and shown great things also in the Champions League. Since then I think I've mostly been burned handing out good rankings to Eredivisie players but of course also burned with some I chose not to include cause I wasn't really sure what their dutch dominance really meant.

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