The 200 best players in the world:159-155

It's back!

Look forward to (or don't/no please do) to plenty of updates this month.

Well since the list was away I have of course changed my mind, discovered or rediscovered tons of players, so there have been plenty of alterations. I touch upon this in one of the writeups as well...

For the time being though I'm very satisfied with the upcoming placements (the previous ones in some cases are a very different matter) but of course that won't last forever so before yet another obsessive alteration attack sets in, it's time to just finish this thing, or at least get down to the highest placed players where my opinion is more set.

The list so far:

200-195
200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain
199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia
198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain
197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil
196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria
195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain
194-193
194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine
192-189
192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England
191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales
190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal
189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia
188
188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy
187-185
187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland
186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain
185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel
184-182
184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy
183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire
182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia
181-177
181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina
180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium
179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia
178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia
177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England
176-173
176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey
175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina
174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands
173-170
173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France
172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England
171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia
170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia
169-167
169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain
168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil
167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland
166-163
166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria
165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil
164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands
163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal
162-160
162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania
161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England
160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany

159:

Felipe Melo

Midfielder - Juventus

Brazil



Surely a current starting central midfielder for mighty Brazil belongs on this list?

Felipe Melo is a great physical talent who can first and foremost help his team by making good defensive contributions but who also has the talent to participate on the attacking front, not so much with passing, where this season for Juventus his decision making has looked painful, but through powerful runs complementing the attacking players.

Before the current Juventus fiasco he enjoyed good years in Spain for smaller sides proving himself worthy of bigger things and last season he had a breakthrough season for Fiorentina where he was an important player in securing Champions League qualification and where, despite his current awfulness, it can be argued that his physical presence in midfield is missed.

Fiorentina have, despite plenty of talent and being a very good technical side, been losing more midfield battles this season than they did the last.

It's clear to me that for Dunga's Brazil and Prandelli's Fiorentina, Melo has done great in well defined roles suiting his strengths. For Juventus under inexperienced Ciro Ferrara he found himself in a situation where nothing was working for him or the team.

For Brazil and Fiorentina he looked like a player worthy of a higher placing. For Juventus he looks like someone who shouldn't even be on the list. I'm just gonna go for something in between: 159 it is!

158:

Craig Bellamy

Forward - Manchester City

Wales



Despite him seemingly having been around forever I have to admit it wasn't until very recently that I discovered any kind of appreciation for any of Craig Bellamy's football skills, and it still feels kind of wrong putting him ahead some of the lower ranked players on this list, as well as some of the very good players not even making it.

It's not even his well publicized daft behavior, who cares (I don't)? I just had no idea that he was actually good.
And to rub salt in that "wound" what I'm finally paying attention to now when it comes to Bellamy probably isn't as good as it used to be.
There are various nagging injuries (knees in particular I think) hindering his performances if we're talking game in and game out.

Maybe it's that in the past (and I'm kinda guessing here) that he's often been either a striker with a partner in a 4-4-2 or a winger in that same system (after all the most popular by far in England during Bellamy's active career), and those two roles didn't really show me (only paying half attention anyway) the full extent of his talent.

On the wing in a 4-4-2 he'll still be fast and work hard, though still not that good defensively and not really the kind of distributor for people in and around the box that you typically come to expect from an EPL winger in a 4-4-2.
Then as a striker in a 4-4-2 he isn't a great goal scoring presence in the box and neither his physicality or passing skills are quite good enough in narrow space playing more central.

So, fast forward to Mark Hughes up and down reign at Manchester City and you'd regularly have Bellamy as a left forward in a 3 man strike force or when (even) more of a left wing in what mostly was 4-2-3-1-like systems.
At some point of course Hughes more or less lost his mind though and went for some of the most unbalanced stuff I can remember from a good team. Most memorable the goal fests against Bolton and Sunderland where despite the impressive work rate from the likes of Bellamy and Tevez, there really were only two people in midfield with defensive duties and who could defend.

Anyways in between all that fun Bellamy really impressed me. He worked extremely hard both ways, was great in transition and consistently put his considerable skills to great use in the final third. Whether through great runs (with and without the ball) finishing or generally doing a good job of complementing the players around him.

157:

Simon Kjær

Palermo



and Daniel Agger

Liverpool



Defenders

Denmark

I think I promised earlier that there wouldn't be more shared spots... But there'll be more, much more!

Well, just a few more, all with some kind of a common theme, and all of course an excuse to include more players, which of course was the original excuse to make this a top 200 list in the first place, instead of say a top 50 or 100. Therefore, the more the better I say!

Of course making it a top a 200 is also what's made it such slow going. Not really the number itself or the accompanying write ups, but the sheer impossibility of putting the 100-150-200 players in perfect order. There is so little between these players and I'm still constantly altering things. Just today looking at the list for the first time in a couple of weeks I found myself spending a good two hours changing stuff around.
Not that anyone goes from 180 something to say number 79 (Fellaini would have an excellent case though-but sadly done is done), then order would be meaningless but 4-5-6 spots here and there, up or down, non stop, enough to drive you crazy! And I won't even go into the number of players first left out then proving they really belong (damn you!), or even worse players who I had either somehow forgotten about or who wasn't even on my original radar bursting out of nowhere playing excellent football!
Of course the slower this gets the more of these will show up... So therefore get on with it!

Well, this is the homer pick I guess. With apologies to Christian Poulsen and Nicklas Bendtner (and perhaps young Ajax phenom Christian Eriksen), who both have not had the best of times for their respective club teams the last year or so (but still I'd claim along with tons of others around the 200 mark of this list), Simon Kjær 20 and Daniel Agger 25 are the two best danish players at the moment and likely the danish national team central defender partnership for many years to come.

They're quite different though. Kjær at just 20 is the virtual mistake free dominating physical defender who'll beat his man when space is tight, on ground or in air, with serious consistency, sometimes non stop, while Agger not as strong physically, and unfortunately injury plagued, uses great instincts and ability (timing/tackling/heading/good acceleration for a defender) to beat his.

Agger is also much superior with the ball where he has great ball control and some good passing skills that he can also put to use going forward (rare for Liverpool/less rare for the national team).
Unlike Kjær though his decision making isn't always good and he will make the occasional big mistake, perhaps a bit like some previously ranked übertalented defenders, have a little too much faith in his own talent sometimes trying the difficult instead of the simple. Something I haven't really seen from Kjær.

What I do think I've seen from both of them though is a good deal of leadership impressively enough, and both so to speak can take charge of defense.

When playing for Denmark I have noticed Kjær struggling at times with positioning, Agger too for that matter, but I mostly put that down to the criminal lack of support they sometimes find themselves without and just general lack of defensive balance (not least when compared to both their club teams) a situation where I think all defenders would struggle.

In many ways it's still early days for Kjær but if you combine the very high level he plays central defender at already, plus the number of European giants already linked to him, it's hard to see him not becoming a star.

With no disrespect at all to recently retired Martin Laursen, his career is almost the worst case scenario here.
Like Kjær currently, Laursen also showed good things for a smaller Italian club, in his case Verona.
Good enough to be transfered to AC Milan for a good bit of money, but due to injuries and serious competition (Maldini, Nesta and Stam for starters) it just didn't happen for him there.

Then sadly there were even more injuries but thankfully Laursen finally did get to show what an excellent defender he could be, at club level as well, even when only relatively healthy, when he had a great final time at Aston Villa.

Kjær's next destination, and it's just a matter of when, almost certainly will be a big club and I guess that's where we'll see how far he can really go.
I don't think it would be unwise to wait though. Maybe at least one more season gaining experience for what's becoming a pretty good team that's even challenging for spots in Europe.

For Agger it's a matter of staying healthy. He has certainly shown that he functions at a high enough level to play for a big club but I do fear that if he doesn't have a good healthy spell soon, then he won't be seen as someone you can really depend on, despite all the talent, and he'll then end up playing somewhere, perhaps less prestigious than Liverpool.

156:

Alessandro Nesta

Defender - AC Milan

Italy



Best

central defender

ever.

At least the best that I've ever seen.

I guess there are a few I can think who could rival his marking and defensive instincts, Fabio Cannavaro and Ciro Ferrara (maybe the best pure man marker, then later adapted great to zone) come to mind, but then Nesta had size and strength (stronger than Jurgen Kohler who is another that come to mind) that they didn't have, as well as all the defensive ability and instincts you could ever imagine. He even rivals their superb agility and Cannavaro's great range of command and he was much better with the ball.
There is also Maldini of course but he was at his greatest at left-back. Thuram is another favorite of mine who deserves mention.

Before the injuries causing him to miss whole seasons in recent years, there were simply no one better than Nesta. For Lazio and early Milan, as well as the Azzurri where his luck has been brutal, following in the unfortunate footsteps of Ferrera, getting injured in 3 World Cups, he was immense and amazing to watch, putting on display after display of flawless defending.

This season surprisingly he's back playing. I honestly thought his career was over and from what I've read it was close.

He is 33 and with a physique, though thankfully not broken, still not nearly capable of what it used to athletically.

Still he's been doing an admirable job on a Milan team currently with a very attacking balance that sees microscopic defensive help from the midfield.

If it wasn't for Nesta with all the ability that remains often holding things together with his partner the talented Silva in and around the penalty area against opponents with a wide open highway towards it, who knows where they'd be in the table? Would rookie coach Leonardo still have his job?

His play has been so impressive that there's been plenty of talk of a comeback to the national team where he's been retired for years now but the latest is that he's turned down that chance.

Staying healthy I'm sure is a big part of that decision and so far he's managed to do just that and while he is definitely not the best defender in the world anymore, he is still kinda up there when healthy, and almost for the glimpses alone that he gives you, of the immense defender that used to rule air and ground, for those alone Nesta just has to be on the list.

155:

Aly Cissokho

Left-back - Lyon

France



Could have been Nesta's team mate at Milan this season where he had signed a pre-contract but some kind of problem with his teeth, that I'm too lazy to look up now, meant that he failed the medical.
Too bad for Milan, congratulations Lyon, is the popular conclusion that it's hard to disagree with.

Cissokho 22 has had something of a meteoric rise from one club and on to the bigger.

20 games for a French third division side before being snapped up Vitoria Setubal in the Portuguese first division and there it only took 13 games before the dominant team in Portugal in recent years, champions FC Porto signed him.
There when everyone (including me) got to see him playing in the Champions League, everyone got kinda interested and the transfer rumors could begin.
Just 13 games was his finishing total for FC Porto before Lyon stepped in and put to good use some of all that money they received in the Benzema transfer and signed Cissokho for around €15 million+20 percent of his next transfer fee.

After that little summarization of Cissokho's young career so far, it almost goes without saying that he is someone who's talent is very obvious and immediate when you first see him.
He is very athletic and strong technically. Man to man defensively he is a beast (and looking at his build he can get even stronger) and on the offensive he is fast enough and skilled enough to make good deliveries and can be pretty hard to stop if he gets into full gear, resembling a winger.
I'm actually surprised he is listed as only 1.83 cm. He seems even taller to me. Maybe it's the lanky build and long legs.

Cissokho really isn't that experienced on the highest level yet but to call him a raw talent or anything like that would be insulting and indicate holes and weaknesses that I'm just not seeing.
There really isn't anything not to like here and it's scary to think that with experience he'll get even better.

He is yet to make his debut for France but has found his way into the squad recently where on his position higher ranked Patrice Evra is the clear first choice.
Personally I think he is a better left-back than likely rival Abidal but Abidal does have versatility going for him. Another French left-back Gael Clichy cause of injuries and poor form (mostly defensively-he is good going forward) is way behind when it comes to going to the World Cup I think but who knows with Domenech.
If Benoit Tremoulinas of champions Bordeaux is even an outsider I don't know, but he is someone who has been been playing great lately, so who knows.

The 200 best players in the world: Foreword

Football journalist Gabriel Marcotti (one of the best it should be said) made this rather unfortunate list back in 2007. It's not as good as mine will be of course :) and much shorter, settling on "just" 50 players.

But I did like his introduction and agree with most of it and it seems relevant to my list as well:

When my editor suggested putting together a list of the top 50 players, I greeted it with a healthy dose of apprehension. For journalists, such lists are often a lose-lose proposition, exposing you to ridicule and, occasionally, venom. Then again, they do generate debate and I like open-ended discussions as much as the next guy.

But before we get into it, here are the usual caveats. Making comparisons between different positions on the pitch is extremely difficult. Equally, while I do watch a lot of football (far more than is healthy), I haven’t watched most of these players week in, week out, for all ninety minutes. Then again, nobody has. So what you’re getting is a combination of personal assessment and, perhaps more importantly, the distilled views of people I talk to, from scouts to fellow journalists, from agents to managers, from club officials to, yes, ordinary fans.

I couldn’t even have begun to compile such a list without basic criteria. So here they are: imagine you are the manager of a totally new team. You have a certain budget to spend, but first you get one freebie, one guy to build your team around. You get him only for one season, the 2007-08 campaign, so you want to go for who can do the best job for you here and now, without worrying how good he can be down the line. Who would you choose? Who would your “ringer” be? Have a look at all at my selection and then post yours in the comment box below.

AND now here are my thoughts before my list:

Well first of all I didn't want the list to get this big. With a list this deep there is a real danger of maybe hundreds of players left out who will have a decent case of should have been included, over certainly some of the lower ranked players who actually were.
Instances where there may not be all that much difference in talent.

But what I quickly found out when shortlisting players, were the staggering amount of excellent players out there.
Exactly you could say like it should be with the most global sport of all, the talent pool appears insanely deep and tons of very good players, some big stars, had to be left out.

A top 50 or top 100 I think would just have excluded too many players who really when I think about it are among the best I've ever seen, and quite frankly that would suck!

Also, more than concluding that the 31st ranked player in the world definitively is better than whoever ranked 35th, this really is more of an excuse just to put some thoughts down, on all these great players, so please don't go berserk if your darling favorite is ranked below someone you really thought was terrible.
First of all, very likely, he isn't terrible, and second separating these players, especially across the different positions, is very very hard sometimes (some are just so so close that one or two places between them really don't mean much either) and of course highly subjective.

Also speaking of subjective I do have tendency to kind of sometimes rank according to what would be the more interesting, the more (in my mind) thought provoking if you will, so that's kind of the x-factor happening here.

All right, another factor is my intention of this list very much being who are the best players at the moment.

Therefore more than a year ago won't matter much if there has been a significant drop in quality since, and if a young player at this very moment is judged by me to be at a very high level, he won't get punished too hard for not having proved himself over time other than whatever great potential he may possess not being a deciding factor either.

And finally some positions will be (much) less common than others.

I have to say that especially trying to compare goalkeepers to the others was troublesome and I wonder if it's not really pointless. But I have included some and left out a lot. (UPDATE: Since writing this elsewhere I have decided to REMOVE GOALKEEPERS ENTIRELY. Feel free to make a best goalkeeper list. I might make one too!

There are also not that many defenders!
Especially central defenders who for their team compared to the other "outfield" positions generally have more limited roles. A job to defend so to speak. I think it could even argued, if still splitting up defending and attacking, that the evolving ball-playing defenders (who I will look more favorable at on the list),  in theory play-ball so to speak as part at least in-direct defending or simply preventing attack.

Now it's been somewhat fashionable to criticize football player awarding almost exlusively benefiting the attacking players, and I used to do it too, after all defending arguably is just as important as attacking, and while when broken down centrebacks generally speaking don't compare favorably to most other outfield players, they can still be as valuable (and sometimes more of course) on any team, the thing is though that defending is something very much (increasingly for many years now) done by the team as a whole and not really "just" by individual central defenders standing all tall and brave through adversity.
It may look that way sometimes sure, but fact is that even the very best defenders in the world will come up short if isolated against good attacking talent.
They need help!
And they get it, from almost the entire team very often, dropping behind the ball or applying to various degrees high ball-pressure, narrowing space, defending their zones. You name it, a good defensive team, do it (as a unit)!

If enough of that defensive play isn't working very well, even the best defender at the time, and according to FIFA the best player even, Fabio Cannavaro, is someone we've seen can go from looking his usual dominant self on a well balanced Italian World Cup winning team, to quite amateurish for his club team, Real Madrid, where exactly the defensive side of the game often wasn't very good.

Simply, if the team doesn't defend well, likely not even the best defender will have a great positive impact, not even at what they do best.
Instead I think there is a very large number of good central defenders out there who on a team that defends well could do a fully adequate job without much of a drop in a quality, and of course that has some value too, but replace an elite forward or midfielder like Messi or Xavi with a say number 25,35 to 65 player at their position and you'd see a real negative impact and a team definitely less capable.
So even though I definitely admire excellent defending and think there are a lot of defenders capable of it, I just don't see them adding individually the same value to their teams as some of the great players in other positions do.
Therefore not THAT many central defenders (ranked very high) on this list. It's not say they're not as important, like goalkeepers and their thin margin for error, they're extremely important, but in this context comparing technical, physical and tactical/mental performance generally speaking they will come up short against the best midfielders and attackers.

Interestingly though I had a whole bunch loosely ranked around the 250ish area but in the end only defenders doing their job extraordinarily and thereby adding real value to their team will have made the list.

Titus Bramble My apologies.

Serie A 2009/10 preview part IV (Juventus)

JUVENTUS:

For the first time since rejoining Serie A Juventus has a realistic chance of the scudetto.

But a lot of things have to go right and very things wrong.

The transfer campaign has been promising. Brazilian star playmaker Diego has joined and he instantly becomes one of the best players in the league.

One who was that last year was his compatriot Felipe Melo. Joining from Fiorentina he is a great physical talent with a smooth passing game who with his arrival potentially makes a full strenght Juventus midfield the strongest in the league.
In the back Fabio Cannavaro is back from Real Madrid. Even if he won't be great anymore (from accounts I've read he actually WAS in his debut last night) he should still be able to form one of the better partnerships around with Giorgio Chiellini.

Also brought in from Barcelona is versatile defender Martin Caceres, but it's unclear how much playing time he will recieve. Personally I would think he should get a chance to prove himself as a fullback while at the same time be a good fourth option for the central defense behind Legrottaglie.

The fullback positions is once again where a lot of Juventus fans place their worries.

On the right side Grygera can still make good contributions forward but defensively there is always a mistake just waiting to happen it seems.
Zebina also has some talent going forward but has lost some pace and is often injured. He is definitely not a number one option for a team searching for greatness. Let's just say that.

On the left we have everyone's favorite Cristian Molinaro. The good thing is that you always know what you're gonna get with Molinaro. The bad thing is that it's never really good.
He just isn't particulary talented and what he does best he does just okay, and especially against good teams he can really fall through.
Unless it's on backup salary his recent 5 year contract extension is a little strange.

His main rival for the job is young leftsided player Paolo De Ceglie.
I suppose out of desperation to see someone, anyone, else than Molinaro play, a lot of Juventus fans really wants De Ceglie to succeed.
I think certainly forward he has a lot more potential than Molinaro but as a defender and even technically, like his passing skills, he still has some ways to go before being a starter on a top team.
His stamina, at least when in a 4-4-2 last year where he had to cover large distances also seemed lacking.

In the first game yesterday Ferrara actualy went with versatile veteran Salihamidzic there. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

So there is no doubt the fullbacks are a weakness. The question is just how much influence they'll have in new coach Ciro Ferrara's more flexible systems compared to Ranieri's 4-4-2 where fullbacks played quite a significant role providing in width.
Certainly in Ferrara's recent 4-3-1-2 a key challenge is defending the flanks and that alone could mean seeing less of the fullbacks going forward.
That then raises the question of the attacking width.

Three of the four striker options all have their main strenghts in the penalty area, so taking out crossing would not seem logical.

On the left undoubtedly the most talented performer is the "atomic ant" Sebastian Giovinco.
Very small in stature he is one of the most exciting attacking talents in the world. Few are faster with the ball at their feet and his low center of gravity makes him quite a nightmare to deal with.
On top of that he has dynamite in his boots resulting in great crosses and explosive shots on goal.
But where to play him?
It's hard to see him on a three-man midfield having to do a lot of two-way play and of course Diego occupy the attacking midfielder spot behind the strikers.

One option would be two defensive midfielders + Diego and then a three forward line up front where Giovinco theoretically could take a place on either side.

Another option would simply be the role I'm sure we'll see Del Piero play a lot. Alongside one of the big strikers and mainly operating from the left, still with Diego behind.
I think Del Piero still has a lot to offer from there. In and around the penalty area from where he can really make use of his magic right foot, but I really hope whenever he isn't a 100 percent, and at his age that's far from all the time, that Giovinco will be the one replacing him most of the time.
If he can be first choice backup for both Diego and Del Piero, and Alex won't automatically still play when he is 80 percent or whatever, then maybe just maybe, there is a chance he'll get the games his talent definitely deserves.

On the right side there are even less options and if fullbacks are going to participate anywhere I guess it's there.
Of midfielders, there really only is Camoranesi to provide any quality width from there and in some ways he is facing the same obstacles Giovinco is on the left.
They're different though and unlike Giovinco it's not that hard to imagine Camoranesi, if in top condition, take a right-central midfielder spot on a three man midfield.

No the real strength of this team looks to be central: Diego with great passing and dribbling ability.
Melo's secure passing and strong tackling and then young Italian midfielder Marchisio, something of everything. With an upside.

Then there is also perhaps the best Juventus player last season
Mohamed Sissoko. While still not a good passer, he has supreme physical tools that makes him a really good two-way player. Whether it's crushing tackles while doing defensive work or being an immovable object while making Patrik Vieira style powerful runs forward.
He has had some injury problems recently but if you're into powerful physical midfield displays, watching him and Melo eventually playing together on the Juventus midfield should be great to watch.

Christian Poulsen, despite attempts to force him out is also still with the team.
He's been one of the better defensive midfielders in Europe for teams such as Schalke and especially Sevilla. And last season he really wasn't any worse. And certainly not as bad as popular opinion will have you believe, but on a club with lofty ambitions used to always winning but just not good enough to do so yet again, he was seen as such.
Personally I like the depth that Poulsen provides. And even if Cristiano Zanetti did a lot of good for Juve in what were tough times, Poulsen is the younger and stronger. Health is a skill too.

Up front Amauri and Iaquinta have quite a lot in common. Including at this point being better strikers than David Trezeguet (for more on that see my "more football entry" on the Berlusconi Tropy game) but how much I like seeing them both play together at the same time with Diego, I'm not really sure.
I think I prefer one of Del Piero/Giovinco getting playing time in a second-striker role together with just one of them, instead of seeing them both kind of do the same things.
Like hinted earlier I'm not sure there is enough crossing for both of them either, and there will also be situations where it's one of them placed out wide providing width, when that would be so much better if it's Alex or Giovinco.
I think Amauri is the better of the two but Iaquinta has turned into a good striker himself and should get games too of course.

I also think all of Del Piero, Giovinco and Amauri are better at complementing, what will be so new on this team, the quality passing down the middle from the Brazilians, Melo and of course first and foremost playmaker Diego.

Who by the way has a frequently updated youtube-channel!

Worth watching: Giorgio Chiellini: In his prime right now, he has all it takes to cement his status as the best current Italian defender.
When it comes to defending he really does everything well, but in my eyes "just" has to take one final mature step away from Materazzi-like reckless, sometimes dirty, tendencies and into great defender territory.
It will be interesting to watch if he will do that this year.