If he keeps his performances up, anything but would be madness.

Der markt seems to think Josh Stones is better than the 70th best centreback in the world too, even though some of what they're paying for is that he's young and English.

Douglas Costa has always been tricky to rank.

There was a point very early where he actually had more hype than Fernandinho and even Willian for Shakhtar and looked to be their main goalscoring weapon or something after some promising displays in the CL. There were also quickly rumors surfacing about Chelsea wanting him.

I did some searching and found this distant memory from my end of 2010/11 season list where he was 217:

Whoa I don't remember that impression at all but at least it was there once and not looking too shambolic at this very moment you could say even if I'd still hesitate calling him more talented than certainly a Willian or even Fernandinho

Since that time I don't think you can say that he has been a key player for them at all. Often not even a certain starter going in and out of the team both domestically and in the CL and when he has played he would usually be overshadowed by other Brazilians there. Though again, apart from CL games this is a tough thing to follow from a distance and who knows what's behind decisions there sometimes, like Bernard never ever playing.

Speaking of Brazil until now he wasn't ever in serious contention for the national team either which traditionally is tough for those players based in the Ukraine but which the very best ones at least managed to become a little bit.

Also, for Shakhtar I'm not sure I remember him playing all that much on the left-wing where he can just keep himself very wide and just rocket down the wing like he has for Bayern and pass helpless fullbacks. For Shakhtar in recent years Taison has been very good on that wing and I think Costa was on the right more and cutting inside central quite a bit with less spectacular results than what we've seen recently.

We'll see, I'm still not sure if he is a superstar or something like that, why would he suddenly be a much better player than what was a non-star for Shakhtar, or is he really a perfectly carved spotted and scouted role player who brings some things fitting in perfectly on a very dominant team team that can complement his fantastic strengths the way no one ever has before (like the ball from Alonso yesterday) with their technical and tactical mastery. He is definitely on the up, probably dramatically also, but I don't think he is the only very good pacy wide player who would love to play for Bayern.

Post about him before Bayern move:

Some good and bad there^^

He is playing better than quite a bit higher ranked Terry and Cahill right now which is what can't help mattering a lot I guess.

He is very talented with his strong mobility, size + strength in general and promising ability with the ball. Especially, certainty controlling it with his touches, carrying it forward while we'll see about his overall passing ability but it's definitely not bad with some good ones thrown in there regularly.

I remember a pre-season friendly against Juventus one or two years ago where he played in a 352 and was maybe the best player on the pitch actually coming forward being strong and dynamic.

Subjectively I think he has made plenty of errors though and don't really conduct himself with certainty reading the game. He is strong in duels but has been missing interventions around the box and markings inside it. He does a lot all over the place and credit to him for managing so much but has he been a highly intelligent defender yet?

Some of the centrebacks right ahead of him are weird cases (Agger, Subotic and Castan) or on the way down where he is on the up but I wouldn't say that he has been a better young defender than a Rugani or Murillo to name the most talented. Rugani has also been a total standout at u21 level where Stones is merely very strong.

The quite complete Van Dijk also better so far I think.

Fonte has been a very good leader helping making his team quite a bit better defensively than anything Stones has been part of.

Mateo Musacchio I don't really like that much and would be tempted to move down but again he has some merit.

Antonio Rüdiger? A good comparison and very close and to be fair me seeing more Stones mishaps than Rüdiger ones might play in.

Alderweireld despite that awful penalty error recently I'm finally starting to really like. Stones has the talent to be better but Alderweireld right now is just stronger tactically and his passing game and ball movement game is so refined vs Stones more raw talent still in that department.

Ivan Marcano just excels at my perceived Stones weak spots (who obv could be vacuum cleaned as we speak since this is a player right on the verge of many many very good years hence the price) so he wins that matchup for the time being. Marcano is such an underrated defender.

Pareja and Naldo I don't think are great or anything. Naldo has weaknesses and Pareja I'm still not very sure about but both performed the kind of defensive roles for their very good teams that Stones arguably hasn't for what was a pretty bad one.

Shkodran Mustafi - it's subjective but he is the kind of very solid and intelligent that I don't quite see for Stones yet but maybe Stones package will blow him away soon. Not that Mustafi doesn't have the attributes needed.

Douglas Costa ran at will against the USA last night, and he wasn't even out wide completely. I love watching him play.

Nice play today between players discussed itt

http://youtu.be/smmFfhJ1aTc

Lewandowski #3 imo :-)

bjorn, sup bro? we miss you

C-C-C-Combobreaker

In the two or three games I've actually watched this year I've just been in awe of this kid. Such speed and ball control. Ribery can remain injured for all I care

Still here!

I guess I could bump sometimes commenting on noteworthy developments on various players, I guess mainly new players but also high risers or cliff divers.

It's very early days and when it comes to new players I'm not sure how much noteworthy there really is just yet.

But for midfielders there are some interesting young names making their impact felt at a high level.

Julian Weigl (20) for Dortmund probably the most obvious and proving himself to be a significant upgrade over the established players they had in midfield the last couple of years.

Mario Lemina for Juventus coming from Marseille where unfortunately I didn't really get a read on him compared to some of their other players but he looks like a very good midfielder already from defensive controlling roles to more box to box.

Olivier Ntcham on loan from Manchester City to Genoa is more of a prospect but he has been very eye catching here early on.

Leroy Sane probably also deserve mention. Basically waiting for him to become a certain starter.

How good Coman looks for Bayern will be interesting because mostly he wasn't ready at Juventus with many flaws.

I'm sure there are more and I've also skipped my usual note taking(shortlist making on some names I don't remember now, because it's early and I knew I would pick them up once I do my thorough go through on basically all teams in all the good leagues and competitions.

But yeah people are definitely welcome to bring forward names making an impact in 15/16. Sometimes you'll definitely miss someone or be too slow.

Bjorn, I think you will need to move Alex Teixeira WAY up on the next list. He's scored 29 goals in 31 league games since the start of last season as an AM. He's legit, he can create and score. Dunga needs to move him up on his list as well btw
Saw some good stuff from him today...

#1 Martial. Gonna be amazing when Rooney is finally given the boot and we bring in a partner close to his level.

Aubameyang #1, Martial #2 imo

3 months since the top300 was posted. Bjorn, care to share your thoughts on what happened since? Cheers

This will be the first year in a while (8 years??) where Ronaldo won't be in the top3, might not even make the top 5!

Any plans for a summer 2016 top 300 update?

Yes I think so, though I'm not sure in what way, shape or form or if it will be the same old maybe tired format in this thread.

And I was lazy during the season and neglected my usual shortlisting of any new player of notice, so finalizing that enormous prerequisite of the list (by going through endless players, clubs and countries for new players) will be the uphill battle.

But I have done some work over the last month or so, though I have no idea when I'll be ready to start updating.

As usual the plan will be to have everything completed around the start of next season.

watched the Ajax highlights from match day 1, Klaassen always seems to impress me. He scored the first goal on a header, then gave a beautiful flick pass that led to the 2nd goal. Just seems to be one of those guys that really is comfortable on the field and always contributing in multiple ways.

Yeah it's a little bit surprising that he hasn't been more linked to moves away.

About the list, it's still some time away I think. The position rankings also keep getting bigger. Centrebacks are completed. Left-right-backs about 80 pct completed. Forwards 90 pct completed but midfielders have a long way to go still. Hopefully I can up the tempo.

So yeah it will go into, certainly the start of the Premier League season, and I'm still not sure how I'll go about "presentation". Twitter-heavy to actual writeups on blog is a possibility.

Klaassen isn't very good. He doesn't contribute anything except for scoring goals. Which is important obviously, but not what you want from your #10.

transfermarkt has him at 15m now

Welcome back (at least I think you've been away)! You will have seen him more and it's true I don't really see him as an attacking midfielder, let alone number 10 (since this is the list thread I can say that rightly or wrongly I didn't consider him for the attacking mid list at all), but I do think he is good as a number 8 if you will in and in the right kind of 3-man midfield setup have a really good career.

Tnx!

Agreed, there is a decent chance he will turn out to be a solid player. Frank de Boer played him really close to the striker tho - being the limited tactical coach that is Frank de Boer, good luck Inter. That hasn't really changed in the first few games of the new season , but hopefully he will drop back more yes.

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