The 200 best players in the world: 148 - 144

Another update featuring not least 5 Argentinians sharing one ranking, and no that won't happen again.

There will be a couple of more spots shared by two players and then in the top 100 it's all one player per spot. I swear!

That five player shared spot took quite a bit of time to write and it also includes all kind of talks about Argentina and Messi, so the following writeups are a little shorter.

I've also decided that either when the list is done or maybe when I get to 100, to fix the 200-144 order. For reasons already touched upon, and perhaps already predicted back in the introduction, the lower ranked order has become pretty messed up.

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
159-155
159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil
158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales
157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark
156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy
155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France
154-152
154: Walter Samuel - Inter - Argentina
153: Diego Lugano - Fenerbahce - Uruguay
152: Mauro Zarate - Lazio - Argentina
151-148
151: Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus and Luca Cigarini - Napoli - Italy
150: Taye Taiwo - Marseille - Nigeria, Rod Fanni - Rennes and Benoit Tremoulinas - Bordeaux - France
149: Domenico Criscito - Genoa - Italy
148: Fernando Llorente - Atletic Bilbao - Spain


147:

A bunch of veteran Argentinian playmakers + a young one.

Juan Roman Riquelme - Boca Juniors



Juan Sebastian Veron - Estudiantes

and

Pablo Aimar - Benfica




Lucho Gonzalez - Marseille


Filming, not Aimar and Veron, but someone's finger!

And finally the kid

Javier Pastore - Palermo



Riquelme and Lucho have been on the list all along. Then one after another (of the others) entered the picture and I had to stop when I suddenly found myself researching "El Burrito" Ariel Ortega as well! Who I haven't seen play in years and these days apparently have alcohol rehab clauses in his contracts...

The biggest reach of this group could be Juan Sebastian Veron and incidentally he is the only one likely to play for Argentina at the World Cup.

When I first saw that he was an integral part of Diego Maradona's Argentina at 35 years of age I had a difficult time seeing any positives and I'm still very skeptic thinking it's a huge step backwards when considering the superior Argentinians out there, players who are still to come on this list, but to be fair to Veron he is actually playing pretty well.
Likely he is still too high on this list though and something of a reach but when I felt Pablo Aimar had to be included Veron just had to come along too. Otherwise he would feel left out!


As I remember it, back in the day for Sampdoria, his first club in Europe, Veron was quite the attacking midfielder and very dynamic one at that (completely unlike now) making great forward runs and looking very strong while doing it. I remember one of the very first descriptions I read of him in an old Goal magazine was that this guy was like a powerful race track horse with all his running.
Behind that description must have been tireless Serie A fan Kristian Borrel who was the only worthwhile thing about it in and who I just want to add on a further sidenote I will always be grateful to for his massive Serie A previews where he went through the defense, midfield, attack and coaching on every single team. I definitely didn't agree with everything but it was rare (and still is in a language I can understand anyway) to see something so thorough that also offered opinion and ambitiously tried to analyze tactics,coaches and players.

Anyway those early Veron impressions didn't really offer much of a glimpse of any great passing or playmaking coming coming from him but it's possible Sampdoria at the time played very direct mostly counter attacking and that's the reason the game he since became so known for got masqueraded.
Interestingly I think to a lesser extent it could be argued that there were similar circumstances at play years later when he was seen as something of a flop at Manchester United.

At his next club Parma (where he was a key player in wining a back then very strong UEFA Cup. Sometimes arguably stronger than the Champions League) and certainly the following seasons at Eriksson's Lazio (where he was perhaps THE key player in winning the Scudetto) and for the national team at the same period, was where we saw the "real" Veron.
A player with a very good work-rate who was a great distributor in midfield.

I think the best description I can come up with of my impression of him at the time was that due to his running he was always in good position to get the ball and when he got it he would always make some kind of good pass. I think if you compare him to prime Riquelme or Pablo Aimar it wasn't as much in the final third where he would consistently create or dictate, that's what Manchester United was looking for him to do and he could do that some but not enough at a high enough level like those other two and definitely not dribbling at great speed like Pablo Aimar, or anything like that, but conducting possession in midfield, the longer the possession (and from deeper) the better almost, that's where he would excel.

Now when I see him, though he has slowed down some, I still see decent work rate and movement making sure he is an passing option and the passing skills and ball control is obviously still there.
There is just less pace, and there wasn't even that much to begin with, and generally his play just isn't very dynamic. Maybe that wouldn't be a problem if he was still playing from deep in midfield and just covering ground there but from what I've seen his current role for Argentina is very much as an attacking midfielder and he just isn't much of a threat there at all, himself, when space is tight.
I think it's great in theory that whoever the skill players for Argentina will be up front (of the many still to come on this list only Messi is certain) can have Veron as an ever present wall almost that they can play against and have the ball bounce back, but it does leave them with huge responsibility to make great runs and create almost any dynamic themselves.

Apparently in South America these days Veron does a lot more. He's been South American player of the year twice while in his 30s and I can see he has a pretty good goal scoring record for his club team, but from what I've seen so far on the national team there isn't much more than solid passing coming from him.
No decisive passes or runs in narrow space and I'm not sure that's enough from an attacking central midfielder for a wannabe World Cup contender.

Not helping is that Messi for Maradona's Argentina is more of a second striker operating centrally than he is for Barcelona, paradoxically resulting in fewer goals. For Barcelona Messi has space to create on his own. There are two more forwards and there are dynamic midfielders. For Argentina the midfielder is non dynamic Veron and there is only one more forward. Instead there are a couple of wingers, one of those Di Maria on the left could be a good forward in 3-forward line but on the right (English first division star!) Jonas Gutierrez spends way too much time occupying the space Messi could fill so much better.
Basically the less Messi finds himself playing with his back to the goal, the better. It's when he is facing the goal that virtually anything is possible! Taking away any amount of time Messi is facing the opposition goal just can't be a good thing.
20 something years ago similar was the case with Maradona himself, now here he is messing Messi up, WHY?


Unlike Veron, one that was always very dynamic, and I'm largely guessing still is (or he wouldn't be on the list) is Pablo Aimar.
In his heyday he was the important creative spark for Rafa Benitez Valencia side that won two La Liga titles and the Uefa Cup.

Then darker times followed struggling with fitness but he still had at least one season for Zaragoza where together with compatriots Diego Milito and Andres D'Alessandro under the attacking guidance of Victor Sanchez, where he once again was spellbinding.

Still only 30 a lot of indications suggest that Aimar is having one of those spells or close to it at least once again (but sadly maybe for the last time so this is kinda a reward) at Benfica, this time with players such as Di Maria, Ramirez and Saviola, who currently are showing some of the best attacking football in Europe.

With his great speed and ball control even in the tightest of spaces Aimar is exactly the kind of player who can make such an attack click.

As far as more traditional playmaking ability goes when it comes to passing he is different than Riquelme and Veron, in that he has so much better acceleration and is such a dribbling threat, that his passing is mostly short and direct in quick combination attempts with others meant to take advantage of just that.

His obvious weaknesses are everything physical. At similar height Messi for an example is a powerhouse compared to Aimar.

That's not a problem that Lucho Gonzalez has. He is probably the least talented of these Argentinian playmakers. So much so that you could say when comparing him directly to them actually calling him a playmaker is a stretch.

He can't be the flashy spark that is Pablo Aimar at his best or control a team like Riquelme or Veron, but he is more of a complete player who is a very good attacking midfielder.
He has good technical ability including great passing skills plus the very good work rate (that puts the others to shame) and pace that makes him a threat without the ball making runs coming from behind. He also has a really good shot.

This season is his first at Marseille and with probably more defensive duties than what he was used to at Porto where he was El Comandante leading them to league glory, it's not like he has taken everyone at Stade Velodrome by storm through (the perhaps anticipated) attacking contributions, but unlike the others where if that didn't happen they wouldn't have much value at all, with Lucho Gonzalez you still get a really good team player.

Joining these veterans is 20 year old Javier Pastore . He is the rare extremely talented Argentinian player who IS NOT getting the new Maradona tag thrown at him or even the latest disturbing trend, the new Messi tag. No instead, and I'm not really sure if it's any better, Pastore is often referred to as the new Kaka!

They're similar in build and one can hope it's only a matter of time before Pastore starts using that better and adds more physical elements to his play. The potential is certainly there and there really is no reason to play like you're 170 when you're actually just short of 190!

More good news for Pastore is that when it comes to passing and general creativity he is actually showing things that Kaka mostly doesn't have in his game.
From standing still positions he can actually make plays and shows many signs of good vision.

Standing still is also a problem though. To become a great player he needs more tempo in his game and has to make better runs both with and without the ball. He will probably never be the fastest of guys and it's not realistic to expect that he can somehow add the burst of speed that a big guy like Kaka somehow has (or had uh oh) but simply by becoming stronger and get better balance, I think could do wonders if added to his extraordinary technical skills.

In many ways it's extremely impressive what he can do standing still while under pressure and again it's the size/skill combination that does it but it's when he hopefully starts doing it more while on the move that he'll become a great player.

He was actually called up for Argentina's recent friendly against Germany but didn't get to debut and isn't likely to go to the World Cup either. Nor do I think he should but with Maradona you just never know.

Last but not least we have Boca Juniors legend Juan Roman Riquelme.

They really don't make them like Riquelme anymore. He is an old school passing maestro number 10 80s style who doesn't do anything when his (and in Riquelme's case I really do mean HIS) team isn't in possession and when they have the ball lots of the play will go through him and his impulses on the given day.

He's been back in Argentina for a few years now and it's a long time since I've seen him play so I really don't know what his level is currently. It's possible he should be even higher and it's possible he should be much lower.

What I do know is that his game relies less on athleticism than almost anyone and even if he's declined in those areas it's not the greatest loss.

I do think it's important that he at least has a work rate meaning good movement when his team is in possession.
When at his best for Villarreal that added a good goalscoring dimension to his game. It wasn't just awesome free kicks and penalties and before their fallout he was like a fish in water (not just making it better) but benefiting from Pelligrini's flexible possession system.

Riquelme is pretty slow, lazy and not strong at all. But he is a superb technician with great passing skills and radar vision to go with it making him one of the best playmakers of his generation and in many ways the last one of his special kind standing.
He was never willing to make any tactical sacrifices, change his role or playing style or try to improve even to fit in with how the game has been changing. A unique player.

146:

Alexis Sanchez - Udinese

Winger - Forward

Chile


Sanchez despite great displays here and there hasn't really made his mark just yet in Serie A. Partly due to injuries and partly having to adjust. In South America though, even at only 21, he has already been a sensation and star for quite few years, and could if things go well for Chile become one of the stars at the World Cup.

It's for Chile you really see the best of him and occupying the right wing where he fits right into coach Bielsa's tactics.
With his explosiveness (few are faster on the first meters) and skill (in Sanchez case cannonball of a player is a very fitting description) he is a constant threat going forward in their fast paced passing game and through his strength and great energy he is a very needed weapon defensively in a pressing game so high up the pitch, featuring tons of individual defending, that it can sometimes look like full court pressure in basketball!

It's possible that's something that will get punished at the World Cup but it's definitely fun to watch and so different from what you usually see in Europe. Perhaps especially from national teams not as fine tuned (very needed to even attempt this I think) as club teams.

Sanchez playing for Chile is one of the things I'm most looking forward to at the World Cup and hopefully in Serie A as well next season Udinese will have a better platform for Sanchez to really take the league by storm like he's so been threatening to do for a while.

145:

Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham

Midfielder

England



Huddlestone is someone who I didn't notice until this season and hopefully I'm not getting fooled in putting him on the list. My instinct actually says put him higher but I'm gonna show some restraint.

In short what I'm seeing is someone who can become a very good midfield general, if he isn't already. That is an extremely valuable thing to have in your possession if you're a football team.

Huddlestone is very strong physically and his passing, especially if you were to hand out style points, is nothing short of majestic.

With Huddlestone and Jack Rodwell for Everton (not slow like Huddlestone and who I would also have liked to include but he just hasn't played enough yet) the England central midfielders still to come on the list face serious competition very soon.

144:

Gerard Pique - Barcelona

Defender

Spain



Ranking the Barcelona defenders is pretty hard. The team concedes fewer goals than anyone but most of that of course is through the (ball!) control they have of almost every single match they play.

Their defenders don't even have that much defending to do, or at least less than everyone else, and when you finally do see them actually defend it can easily be them struggling to defend with most of the team caught forward. Or themselves since they push up so high.
As much as that can make them look worse than they actually are, the superb defensive record on paper on the other hand can make them look better.

Pique is big and strong with superb technique, good passing is a must for a Barcelona defender of course.
I think he is strong man to man, with still a little way to go positionally, and good health and lack of blunders (+ in some ways starting for both the best club and national team in the world) is what seals the deal in making him the top ranked central defender so far!

Serie A 2009/10 preview part V

It continues (still in alphabetical order) and not just with one team this time.

LAZIO:

Just when this team on paper was starting to shape up rather nicely again, highlighted by a Coppa Italia win last season, conflict arrives and there is currently a situation where three (good) players are left out of the squad because of dispute.
De Silvestri, plus recent key players Pandev and Ledesma are all currently left out of the squad and every day it seems there are rumors of them being signed by other teams.

Probably most important though is the one who IS staying. Star forward Mauro Zarate's status was made permanent when Lazio managed to raise the €25 million needed to secure him.
If Zarate has been consistent enough to justify a price such as that I'm not so sure of, but when he was good he was often magical, and probably key in this thing, better than anything Lazio has had for quite some time and better than anything else realistically they'd have any hope of signing in the near future.
So all in all, well done to Lazio for securing him.

With his number one partner in crime when it comes to attacking contributions, Pandev, for the time being out, the door should now be wide open for great technician Pasquale Foggia to really make his mark for the club.
If he can do that the door might also open up further for the national team where he could bring some flair to primarely the wings.

Elsewhere things are a lot less spectacular. Sturdy striker Tommasi Rocchi is for the time being the captain up front and on midfield you find solid (but not getting any better) veterans such as Dabo, Baronio and Cristian Brocchi.

There is also Stefano Mauri, Matuzalem and Meghni who on their day have more to offer forward but even with the best of the lot there, Ledesma in, you feel this is a midfield who's job it should be, to lay a balanced foundation so the skilled players up front's focus can be 100 percent on the attacking side of things.

In the back-four Rozenhal has left for Hamburg and most interesting will be who wins the left-back starting job of Kolarov and romanian Radu who has impressed a lot of people whenever he has played.

Worth watching: Stephan Lichtsteiner: A product of the, in recent years, great Swiss talent development, he is rapidly establishing himself as one of the best right-backs in the league contributing nicely to the attack.
In fact, his constant running up and down the flank has earned him the nickhame Forrest Gump!


LIVORNO:

Up from Serie B we have the team who very much unlike Lazio are known for their left-wing supporters.
And also back is their number one working class hero and Livorno legend, veteran striker Cristiano Lucarelli.
Wearing number 99 on his jersey as a homage to 1999 founded left-wing ultras group Brigate Autonome Livornesi, BAL, Lucarelli born and bred in a notorius Livorno housing project, first came to prominence when he at a U-21 national team game being played in Livorno, celebrated a goal by ripping off his shirt revealing underneath another one with the familiar picture print of Che Guevara.
The Livorno fans went crazy and has loved him ever since but elsewhere and in the press he was heavily criticised.
It's been speculated how much damage was done already then to his future with the national team where he to this day is stuck at just one cap. I really don't know.

But further endearing him to the Livorno fans was when he at the height of his career, despite his agent's wishes took a paycut, rejected more lucrative offers and basically forced a move away from Torino to join Livorno now on the rise after 50 years in the lower leagues.

With Lucarelli on board now finally in Serie A they actually did well. In the midst of among others, chaotic coaching reigns from Roberto Donadoni the club achieved league finishes of 8, 6 and 11.
Lucarelli also had a lot of personal success netting plenty of goals and even finishing as league top scorer in 2005.

With Livorno president Aldo Spinelli conflict and tension is never far away though. There have been various small matters such as a match fixing scandal and when it comes to coaches he hasn't exactly been the most easy guy to have as boss.
Always very superstitious in fear of a bad run, Spinelli with one round left to play of last season following a defeat, sacked coach Leonardo Acori eventhough the team was still sitting comfortably in third place and was secured a playoff spot.

New coach Gennaro Ruotola immediatly endeared himself to the supporters not just by winning promotion but by declaring a democratic revolution as well, which is the kind of language that's still sweet music to the Livorno tifosi.

A few years earlier with another conflict with another manager, Spinelli also had a fall out with Lucarelli who was then sold to Shaktar Donetsk and last year played for Parma.

Now he is back though and Spinelli may not be. Following the promotion last season he had these words:

"Football is cruel and for this reason I would like to leave the presidency to my son.

"This has been too tough a year for me, what with a massacre of a play-off run. I hope my son accepts,".

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Worth watching: Alessandro Diamanti: But where?

Unfortunately for Livorno fans the passionate and talented star on their team for the last few years seems to be on his way out with the club also more than willing to cash in on him.
Gianfranco Zola at West Ham is one fan and as I'm writing this, the Hammers look like a likely destination.

Diamanti according to himself has wasted far too many years in the lower leagues and when you look at his play at least in the last couple of years you have to agree.
A skilled technical player he creates goals for both teammates and himself. From open play as well as on set-pieces.

Last season the main beneficiari from that was former Valencia failure Francesco Tavano who finally had a good year again, and it will be interesting to see how he and others will do up front, IF without Diamanti.
Against tougher competition less well is definitely the more likely, but at least with Lucarelli now back at the club some other options presents itself, since he can still be a good target-man.


NAPOLI:

Roberto Donadoni's current destination with their huge loyal fan support are very ambitious and will look for drastic improvement from last year, where they following a promising start slumped to a 12th place finish.

That meant the dismissal of Edy Reja who had led the team all the way back from Serie C1, which could be argued was somewhat of a cruel fate.

However I do think it's arguable that his rather dated 3-5-2 system wasn't stable enough at the highest level and that change was needed to have a realistic chance of this team reaching the top.

Now whether his replacement Roberto Donadoni is the right kind of change only time will tell, shockingly he is yet to really abandon the 3-5-2, and of course time may very well turn out to be very limited when both demanding fans and a crazy president (yes another one) Aurelio De Laurentis, all expect rapid improvement.
When it comes to the players at least, improvement looks more certain.

They've held on to all of their key players and have used a considerable amount of money to attract players such as Luca Cigarini who is one Italy's most talented midfielders, proven striker Fabio Quagliarella, goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis and one of the real breakthrough right-backs of last season, Columbian Juan Zuniga.

At least in the 3-5-2, defensively in the back things are the same, and realistically only further improvement from the promising Fabio Santacroce can make things better there.
He was already an important player last season where the team went from conceding 53 to 45, but the needed 10 goals or so improvement from that, to reach the very top, is just hard to imagine being produced by a three-man-backline.

The midfield has a lot of talent. Marek Hamsik's splendid two-way play is now joined by Cigarini who has a really good deep pass as well that should benefit the pace upfront, and with the rest of the bunch there is a nice mixture of steel and finesse not least from Uruguayan international Walter Gargano who Napoli really missed when he went down with a foot injury last season.

The real challenge is of course to get that mixture just right and with talented wingbacks galore plus all-round types of central midfielders, what is the best non-3-5-2 lineup even?

Up front Argentinian wizard Lavezzi and reliable Quagliarella can easily be part of a flexible three forward line that would help a four man midfield some, but that means a key role for so far not that impressive striker Denis, and that might not be worth it either.

I would think the most logical thing would be Donadoni's own 4-3-1-2 system. With Hamsik behind Lavezzi and Quagliarella, plus a three man midfield including Cigarini with the rest of the spots up for grabs.
To me that system looks good enough both ways with the squad players Napoli have. But if Donadoni really is still using the 3-5-2 it must be because he thinks the player material continues to be better suited for that, and that with the reinforcements now in place he can do better with it than Reja did.

The problem I see is that expectations are not just to be somewhat better, but A WHOLE LOT BETTER, and that I seriously doubt can come from a 3-5-2 formation.

Worth watching:Ezequel Lavezzi: For real or one of those overrated youtube sensations?
Build a lot like Carlos Tevez he doesn't have the same strenght and stamina but tons of skills and pace.
Great pace with the ball too.
Surrounded by better talent this year he should be even better.
Watch this season for hopefully better passing, consistency and decisionmaking and Napoli have themselves an elite player.

PALERMO:

The Zenga/Zamparini/craziest coach/craziest president constellation looks to be an interesting one and it should be enjoyed while it lasts.

Zenga's coaching exploits have already been touched upon in the Catania section of these previews. And you can add to it his recent declaration that Palermo will challenge for the championship.

President Zamparini, besides his outbursts to the media, is best known for his legendary impatience when it comes to coaches. To such an extent where you have to wonder if Zenga's title challenge prediction is some kind of advanced reverse psychology plot to do what no one else employed by Zamparini have done, and actually remain in the job for a bit.
Zamparini since his entrance into football in 1987 has sacked 26 coaches!

There is hope however cause a recent trend developing with him is rehiring coaches he has previously dismissed.
Most famously current Parma coach Franceso Guidolin who on 4 different occasions have been sacked only to later be rehired by Zamparini.
The last time Guidolin was sacked in 2008 the man he replaced, Stefano Colantuono was then rehired, only of course to have Zamparini sack him after just one game into the next season.
HIS replacement Ballardini, now at Lazio, went on to lead the team to a good 8th place finish last year but was still let go by Zamparini. And with that enter current coach Walter Zenga.

Overall I would say that even if the team isn't good enough to challenge for a Scudetto this is still a good team.

Up front Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani has kept improving and now forms a very nice little and large striker partnership with more experienced, but still with a lot to offer, Fabrizio Miccoli.

Behind them especially leader Fabio Liverani has been doing a good job in midfield for years.

Look for him to be defensively complemented by experienced Noceroni and on the more attacking side of things by brazilian Fabio Simplico who had a good enough last season to attract at least whispers of attention from bigger clubs.

There is also aussie-italian Mark Bresciano who is a nice versatile player to have.

But to have this team reach for the top, the hype of especially one player needs to hold water:In what could turn out to be a massive coup it was Palermo who secured the signature of young Argentine, Javier Pastore.

On Pastore, from this Guardian article by Joel Richards:

He is light years ahead of his nearest competitor in the 'Lyrical Ranking' – a weekly tribute to the showboaters among Argentina's top flight footballers.
Sports daily Olé's readers recently voted him the best player of the season, while Clarín's journalists rate him as the second top performer of the season. Some 680,292 mangers have him in their fantasy football teams. Manchester United are reported to have tabled a £8.8m bid, which he turned down. Milan and Lazio are also interested. He's the son every madre wants after he ran over to kiss his mum through the fencing to celebrate a goal. He's the boyfriend that every señorita wants thanks to his boyish good looks. Huracán's 19-year-old midfielder, Javier Pastore, is creating quite a stir in Argentina.

Just over a week ago, he single-handedly demolished River Plate with two goals and an assist in his side's 4-0 win over the millonarios. Many thought Pastore had played his best game of the season. Then last Saturday night he scored two more against Rosario Central, and was inches away from his first top flight hat-trick when his shot cannoned off the crossbar. With seven goals from midfield this season, he is his club's top scorer.

In the back Palermo has lost Carrozzieri due to his suspension for cocaine use.

Instead, in have come Romanian international Dorin Goian who is far from a downgrade at all in my view and when I've seen him play from Romania has been very good.
Add to that the defensive duo of last season consisting of experienced Cesare Bovo and very talented Simon Kjaer and Palermo could have one of the best central defenses in the league.

Worth watching: Zamparini and Zenga:
Too many players have been called the new Maradona way too early. Though technically I think Pastore actually mainly has been called the new Messi! But anyway while certainly an eye should be kept on Pastore, he could still have some way to go yet, and in the meantime more interesting will be if Zenga's reverse psychology will pay dividends and if he will actually be given the time needed to make his mark on Palermo by Zamparini, or if this constellation is just a massive blowup waiting to happen. If so then at least we'll watch it when it does.


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And with that only Parma, Roma, Sampdoria, Siena and Udinese to go in one final entry that should be up long before the games next weekend!