Both were in the PFA and Champions League teams of the year, and Alexander-Arnold even got on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or (justified purely by that ingenious corner against Barcelona, we would argue). Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool/England. Few in world football have better dribbling abilities than Eden Hazard. “Jordi is the best left-back in the world,” PSG defender Juan Bernat recently enthused about his international team-mate. Almost all of Europe's biggest clubs are rumoured to be interested in taking Kalidou Koulibaly away from Napoli. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Eriksen’s lacklustre autumn displays should not cloud his achievements in the first half of the calendar year. Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool/England. Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool/Netherlands. Consistently excellent throughout Liverpool’s victorious Champions League campaign, the Brazilian was a truly game-changing signing who justified his hefty £67m price tag. Elsewhere, Brazil won the 2019 Copa America, Barcelona triumphed in both La Liga and the Copa del Rey, Cristiano Ronaldo won his first Serie A title with Juventus, and so much more has happened that we could be here all day. He has also become a pivotal player for Bayern Munich, where he is admirably filling the huge void left by Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. "Bar Lionel Messi," "Behind only Lionel Messi.".

Team: G2 Esports. His injury problems were so terrible that it’s genuinely remarkable Cazorla is even playing again. Next step for Hazard: becoming Madrid’s new Cristiano Ronaldo. So electric and dominant was the young Varane that expectations were set unrealistically high.

Perhaps Fabinho would have finished higher up the list had he been part of the Brazil squad that won the Copa America. He claimed a share of 2018-19’s Premier League Golden Boot, and is also the favourite to collect the PFA individual prize this season. Joshua Kimmich | Bayern Munich/Germany. He is the best. This metric awards points to every player involved in a goal except from the person who supplied the final pass (assist) and the goalscorer. Sadly, a cruel cruciate ligament injury has ruined his season and even left his Euro 2020 hopes hanging by a thread. Inter’s Mr Reliable is comfortably the longest-serving player in their regular XI.

As the brains behind the most incredible run in recent Champions League memory, the youngster looked like a player made for Barcelona during his time with Ajax. "Bearing in mind that every game is almost 95 minutes long (when injury time is included) that's two almost every single game.". Adding goals to his game could make 2020 his best year yet. Sergio Aguero | Manchester City/Argentina. since. In form, he is the finest passing midfielder around, but age-induced fatigue combined with an increasingly anarchic Barça means that the Spaniard suffers now more than ever. Subscriber

Let’s take a look at which players have come out on top... 9.

Calm, mature and consistent – he is Juve’s No.1 with good reason, keeping out a legend in Gigi Buffon. The 29-year-old was vocal about catching Didier Deschamps’ attention for Euro 2020, and that he has done: without his goals, a mediocre Monaco would be in even greater trouble. After three increasingly prolific campaigns at Sevilla, which followed six years with Toulouse, Ben Yedder is back in Ligue 1 – and he's flourishing. LIST FourFourTwo's 50 favourite football shirts, RANKED The 101 greatest football players of the last 25 years, LEGENDS FourFourTwo's 100 Greatest Footballers EVER, FIFA 20 Career mode best young players: 15 wonderkids with world-class potential, New features you'd love on FourFourTwo.com. Firmino is surely Liverpool’s most underrated player. Elite athletes are earning more than ever thanks to soaring salaries driven by ever-richer TV contracts. As ever, a note about subjectivity: this list is largely derived from performances over the calendar year, in conjunction with FFT staff and dozens of our most respected writers from around the world, but we feel there should be a nod to overall class as well. Seductively skillful, a perceptive passer, and first-class finisher — Neymar has it all in his arsenal. He has been making up for lost time at Dortmund ever since. This page was last edited on 13 August 2020, at 05:11.

5.

Although Aguero has long normalised his outstanding goal returns, in 2019 he became Manchester City’s record Premier League scorer and made the PFA Team of the Year for a second campaign running. The Yorkshireman’s remarkable rise continued in 2019 as he was made the world’s most expensive defender at £80 million, as well as the cornerstone of England’s rearguard. His range of passing is second to none, and, when combined with his sublime first touch and acute awareness of what's happening around him, it means he can dictate any game. That's demonstrated best by the fact that over the last decade, the Belgian completed more successful dribbles than any other player in the Premier League, managing an incredible 909 during his time with Chelsea. Tell us who's better on CNN Sports Facebook page. Frenkie de Jong | Barcelona/Netherlands. Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Who is the world's most marketable athlete? After all, does one good – or bad – year define a player?

Pele won multiple titles with Santos, with whom he played out the best years of his career, before joining the New York Cosmos for a … Jadon Sancho doing Jadon Sancho things!He races away from inside his own half to double Dortmund's lead!What a start to the new season for him! Alderweireld, stylish and ever-reliable in his five years with Spurs, was key. Madrid struggled to replace the 34-year-old’s laconic promptings when he was injured at the start of this season, and his return inspired an upsurge in form. There’s much more to come. Three France stars make the top ten — N'Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, and Kylian Mbappe — but there is no longer room for Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. Alexander-Arnold’s 12 set a Premier League record for a defender; Robertson managed a mere 11, but by the end of November he had bumped his team-mate into second position, across the league, for assists in 2019. At 2019's FIFA Best Awards, the Argentine voted Sadio Mane as his number one player in the world. Zlatan Ibrahimovic | unattached/Sweden, 6.