The 200 best players in the world: 134 - 129

Introduction to the list

The list:

New order

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
147-144
147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Marseille, Benfica and Palermo - Argentina
146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile
145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England
144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain
143-139
143: Raul Meireles, Porto - Joao Moutinho - Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lissabon - Portugal
142: Bacary Sagna - Arsenal - France
141: Eljero Elia - Hamburger SV - Netherlands
140: Marko Marin - Werder Bremen - Germany
139: Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal - Italy
138-135
138: Raul - Real Madrid-Spain and Ruud Van Nistelrooy - Hamburger SV-Netherlands
137: Konstantin Zyryanov - Zenit Saint Petersburg - Russia
136: Simon Rolfes - Bayern Leverkusen - Germany
135: Ze Roberto - Hamburger SV - Brazil


134:

Mauro Camoranesi

Juventus

Right midfielder - Italy



Uh oh this was probably a mistake.

Back when I started this list Camoranesi was playing his best football in years and for a while at least was the best player on a very up and down Juventus team. The up part would soon disappear by the way.
The injury bug however soon caught Camoranesi again and as time went by I did move him down some, but here he is months later still not really having done anything since that good period of form and he should have been moved down more. Especially if you consider that his last few seasons haven't exactly been all that great either.

When healthy he is a feisty hard working player who is disciplined defensively but who is also really good technically and can even be creative going forward whether it's with a pass or most often a clever dribble. He also crosses the ball well.

That's enough talent for an even higher ranking but as his health has gotten worse with age his temperament and focus haven't really and he'll still make really bad decisions sometimes.

Kind of like me keeping his ranking this relative high!

Oh well hopefully he'll enjoy a good healthy spell from now on and while it's downright impossible to impress at Juve at the moment, hit some good form when the World Cup arrives.


133

Simone Perrotta

Roma

Midfielder - Italy



One of the most underrated players for much of the previous decade and a vital member of Italy's World Cup winning side four years ago starting every game.

Despite that though he wasn't even close to the list at first. Post World Cup 2006 Perrotta has not only aged but been plagued by injuries and with that is actually one the few 06 veterans that hasn't been in the national team picture recently.

This season however, to the great benefit of his club team Roma pushing for the title, is his strongest in years, and perhaps for one final time he is back being the Simone Perrotta of old.

A player not with great technical skills like any kind of passing out of the ordinary but someone who through a great work rate and strong tactical play (not least his outstanding movement offensively and defensively - that's where he is really special) is capable of performing strong two-way play in every midfield position. Be it attacking or defending, central or wide.

For teams emphasizing attacking without compromising the defensive side of things he is something of an ideal player. He'll work hard defensively and make all the right runs in transition. Then not miss a beat defensively.
Even in established attack if it's direct play his runs seeking passes in between defenders is a thing of beauty making him a decent goal scoring threat (yes between 5 and 9 goals for a midfielder every year is actually very good in Serie A!).

With those skills Perrotta was an important part of Spalletti's innovative Roma systems (like the 4-6-0) where the closest thing to a striker was Francesco Totti often dropping deep still reliving his younger playmaker days. Him and the team then needed people to make runs, not least forward, around him and no one did that better than Perrotta.

Curiously enough born in England, even though he hasn't been in the national team picture for a while, don't rule out a surprise World Cup comeback for Perrotta if can maintain his fitness.

For Italy that is...


132:

Marcelo

Real Madrid

Left-back/Left midfield

Brazil



Despite what a disappointing Champions League exit to Lyon in a closely contested tie might lead you to believe, Real Madrid this season is an excellent team.

After all they're neck and neck with the just about undisputed best team in the world Barcelona at 77 points and a goal difference of 57 after 30 games.
One better than Barca and an 8 point and 19 goal improvement if you compare to the same stage last season, where it should be said that in the league at least they were actually considered to be rolling to such an extent that towards later stages of what was Barcelona's historic improvement of a season, there were actually some Barca nervousness (paranoia) if Madrid like they had done before could sneak up on them and steal another title.

What happened instead of course was Barcelona in early May, at the Bernebau no less, completely putting any doubt to rest and destroying Real Madrid 6-2 in what was yet another magnificent performance.

At the time of writing they're facing each other in just three days and it of course can't be ruled out that history will repeat itself, but this time it's only early April+closer in the standings and if you consider Barcelona currently through lots of injuries really are seeing their depth put to the test, then even if Barca sets things straight and win, this more than ever clash of giants, a much strengthened Real Madrid could still end up stealing the title later focusing their vast resources on the league entirely while Barca once again will be busy playing and preparing for massive Champions League games.

I won't say Barcelona absolutely must beat Madrid again to retain the title but getting even the smallest of margins, with both teams so dominant, would certainly be very useful.

Of the various expensive Real Madrid additions to their squad some have been as good as advertised, some worse and others about what you would expect.
Of the players already in place, some have struggled and are seeing less playing time but then there are those who seemingly have lifted their game and fitted in very well with their new excellent teammates.

The most spectacular example of that (and he was already very good) is of course Gonzalo Higuain who has exploded with 24 goals in 20 games, but also Marcelo though more under the radar is enjoying his career best season and has shown, perhaps for the first time in 4 seasons at Madrid, where people are extremely hard to please, good enough play to be viewed as an actual strength to the team rather than a weakness.

A big part of that has been getting moved away from a position where he spent a good part of the time doing what he did worst. At left-back defending often one on one which is his clear weakness.

This season he has been moved up to midfield playing left-central in Pelligrini's flexible system often referred to as a 4-2-2-2.

There it's much less one on one defending, especially when he often has two excellent defensive midfielders (Alonso and Diarra) behind or around him and he is just another part of the team defending and staying disciplined occupying his left midfield position.
Again something easier than time and time again after an offensive raid playing as fullback having to track even further back only there to be caught up in difficult one on one matchups against whatever La Liga winger on the given day.

Instead in the 27 league games Marcelo has started (more than any other Real Madrid player) it's been his excellent technical skills and the quickness/flashiness he can use them with that's been on the forefront and with them (he leads the team in assists), perhaps surprisingly, he has become an important part of a very strong team, after being a weak link on a much weaker one.

Funny how football works sometimes.

131:

Christian Chivu

Inter

Defender/Midfielder - Romania



Not much funny about Christian Chivu's various injuries though and in a long career of many minor and some major his latest injury was his worst when he early this year fractured his skull.

Thankfully though he now has made it back and is just starting playing games again for Inter.

Back when Chivu first caught people's attention as a young player at Ajax, as I remember it, the sky was seen as the limit for Chivu and he was very highly regarded.

Here was a young player, a leader even, who looked very complete already and who could do a great job playing a number of positions. That's great value.

But Christian Chivu while a very good player for many years now I don't know if he ever became the major star that people thought he would become or improved even from when he first broke through.

Maybe at one of his positions with more experience he is better than ever, as a central defender, over time the preferred position (at least until Mourinho started liking him as his left-back), possibly cause injuries took away some of his pace and when playing midfielder or fullback these days he isn't very dynamic and in some ways is restricted to primarily defensive duties.
Duties that he fulfills well and even if he isn't dynamic he'll always have his great left foot and can contribute good things through that. On set pieces as well as a nice range of passing.

Still mainly what's edging him ahead of a lot players is that he will do a good (especially defensive) job as a left-back, central defender and defensive midfielder. Value.

130:

Simäo

Atletico Madrid

Winger - Portugal




Simao has been one of the better wingers in the world for a good part of the last 10 years but whenever a player much reliant on pace has hit 30 years of age and is having his worst season in a while you do wonder if he is starting to slip.

He still looks fast to me though and it could just be another one of those inconsistent spells that has plagued him for most of his career and I guess prevented him from reaching the very elite. We'll know soon enough anyway and obviously no matter what he will have far from 10 more years left as one of the better wingers around.

When at his best he is still fast, skillful and able to create for himself and others (passing and shooting), not just on either wing but in most of the attacking midfield area and he was an important part of Atletico's very exciting attack last season, that if it wasn't for Barca's even more spectacular exploits, probably would have received more attention.

He is another small somewhat fragile player that doesn't add much weight defensively. His work rate is good at times (perhaps especially for the national team) but even in the typical 4-2-3-1 systems where he has usually roamed protection from "only" two defensive midfielders haven't always been enough protection to keep things balanced.


129:

Marcell Jansen

Hamburger SV

Left-back/Left wing - Germany



So many Hamburg players and I'm starting to feel uneasy about the lack of especially Schalke and Dortmund players (and no there won't be any) who are both having stronger seasons than Hamburg, but I just couldn't find any great candidates on either of those teams, though I'm sure there are some who'll have a good case for a spot on the lower part of the list.

Marcell Jansen unfortunately suffered an ankle injury late March and it's unclear what his level of participation, if any, will be for the rest of the season.

Hopefully it's not something that will endanger his place in the Germany World Cup squad.

Jansen is unusually tall and strong for someone who has played both left-back and now mostly left wing but still has good pace and is a very dynamic player. An excellent combination!

For Hamburg he plays mostly as a left-winger where he can really make use of his great crossing ability. He is also a capable dribbler meaning that crossing ability definitely isn't going to waste.

While I would say his work rate is good I'm not sure he is as good defensively as someone with his non fragile physical ability perhaps ought to be at a position involving lots of two-way play.

Finally like a whole host of German midfielders at the moment he possesses a powerful shot.

The 200 best players in the world: 138 - 135

This without a doubt is the entry featuring the highest average age.

Introduction to the list

The list:

New order

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
147-144
147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Argentina
146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile
145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England
144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain
143-139
143: Raul Meireles, Porto - Joao Moutinho - Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lissabon - Portugal
142: Bacary Sagna - Arsenal - France
141: Eljero Elia - Hamburger SV - Netherlands
140: Marko Marin - Werder Bremen - Germany
139: Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal - Italy

138:

Raul

Real Madrid

Forward - Spain


and

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Hamburger SV

Striker - Netherlands




That at 32 years of age there are several much better strikers than Raul, club and country, doesn't make him a bad player.

The previous seasons when he was relative healthy and unlike now actually started games Raul proved that he is still a really good goalscorer netting 20+ in both of those seasons.

This season however he has only started 8 games in La Liga and there are even rumors he'll be leaving Real Madrid at the end of the season. On the one hand if he feels he still has something to offer (and my ranking would suggest so!) I can understand if he wants to go somewhere he can get more playing time, but of course on the other hand anything than having this unique (especially post-Bosman) undisputed legend/champion/symbol finish his career at the club where he since the age of 17 earned that status, just seems wrong.

Raul still has that will to win and technique that for years made him one of the best in the world but the pace that is so needed to go along with that is if not lost then definitely diminished.
He'll still work hard off the ball in the attacking midfield area but with the ball these days he doesn't have the pace to be an effective player there and even though his team work is as great as always he's never been what you would call a great creative player when removed from his striker position, which several coaches did over the years.
No these days once and for all his effectiveness has been reduced to the box area and even there with less pace, individually he just can't create like he used to (for an example his own shot so to speak) and is much more dependent of the work of others compared to back when he was at his best.

Now that's not a disaster or anything, it's the reality for most players, strikers too, it just means that Raul at 32 years of age is far removed from the excellent level the likes of Higuain, Torres or David Villa currently are displaying.

Doesn't make him a bad player.

Then what about the man they called horse-face?

Ruud Van Nistelrooy who I confess is a last second entry, thought of in the middle of the Ze Roberto writeup, the last of its kind definitely, who wasn't anywhere near the list when I first compiled it and didn't even get much closer through one adjustment after another. Is he a bad player cause with age he is having an increasingly hard time staying healthy?

Yes health is a skill and if your health is bad it seriously hurts your value to your team and naturally your rank on this list. In Nistelrooy's case so bad it meant he almost didn't make it.

However what he brings when he plays, all in all I think is just enough to justify including him. Justify a much higher placing than this with so few games under his belt in the last couple of seasons, absolutely not, but here at 138 with another former great player both spiraling down the ranks? It made sense to me at least, so here he is. I do feel bad about having him ahead of the top ranks in the new order but that's the case with a lot of players.

Why he is on I'm sure is known to anyone reading this. It's the same reason it's always been with Ruud. The only difference is the massive negative that is his health, but as usual when where and whenever he plays, he is an amazing goalscorer. Right up there with the best in the world and very few can even rival his work in the box where he just continues to be extraordinary.

I'm not saying even when healthy he is as good as he used to be. Serious injuries has robbed him of the pace that made him close to unstoppable for PSV and the first seasons for Manchester United where you would even see him dribble and create goals on his own machine-like, but strength, placement and finishing skills in the box have made sure that despite all the injuries whenever he has played the goals would always come.

And they'll keep coming I predict, which also has to do with him being included. After rehabbing like a man possessed to continue his career he found himself way down the pecking order when he finally did come back at Real Madrid. The situation Raul is also in. Nistelrooy however got out and has landed in what I think is a very good situation in Hamburg, both for him and his new team.

With a lot of attacking midfield and forward talent already in place, some to be found on this list, a great presence in the box is exactly what Hamburg needed. And for Nistelrooy what better way to enjoy the last time of his career than in an attacking league with the kind of service that almost guarantees a striker as good as him to rain in the goals. In the process it might even land him a World Cup spot and national team comeback?

The great challenge won't be scoring, that comes easy to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, it will be staying healthy.

137:

Konstantin Zyryanov

Zenit Saint Petersburg

Midfielder - Russia



I just couldn't let go of including this wonderful player on the list and the only reason he is not ranked higher is some last minute restraint.

The Russian Premier League players are hard to rank since it's not a league I watch other than in glimpses. Glimpses only occurring when national icon Michael Laudrup takes the Spartak hotseat and whaddayaknow suddenly football from Russia was on danish television! That didn't last very long though and here I am back in the dark.

There is no doubt though that it's a league that's become stronger and stronger for quite a while now. That obviously wouldn't happen without many good players so not having any on the list would seem like a mistake.

I included Rubin Kazan captain Sergei Semak as sort of a cadeau to that team's success and at the time of writing the great job they did against the best team in the world, Barcelona.

To be fair though Russia has a number of central midfielders at a similar level who would have a decent case for one of the lower places and then there is Ruben Kazan's best player and unanimous 2009 player of the year in Russia, Alejandro Dominguez, who has since perhaps unwisely switched to forward rich Valencia, he is someone who is still to come on the list.

2008 player of the year Zhirkov (Zyryanov incidentally was 2007) I included when he was yet to make his Chelsea debut and in the new order have him at 176. Likewise tank center forward Pogrebnyak also having his first season outside of Russia, he too made the list.

Other high profile former successful Russian premier league strikers with good cases are Vagner Love and Roman Pavluchenko. The latter was coming of a terrible start for his new club Tottenham and under new manager Harry Redknapp was yet to be given much of a chance. That has since changed and if I was to include him right now I think he could go as high as 160-159-158, or something like that.

If it was 2008 Vagner Love would be hard to overlook but if as he apparently did, started to slump or play bad in what is still a non top league, I don't think you should be included on this list.
Instead with seemingly almost every decent Brazilian player going the opposite direction he made his way back to his home country where of course I have even less of an idea how he is doing. Therefore all in all no Vagner Love on this list!

But of course these are all former Russian Premier League stars which I guess is pretty telling. It's when they leave we get a chance to watch them after all. Just think about how many years the highest ranked Russian player on this list, Arshavin played without getting noticed outside of Russia and Zyryanov (who I will get back to!) even worse sadly "already" 32 years of age and soon, if not already, declining, him I only got to see when Zenit started outplaying teams in Europe in 2007 and the national team under Hiddink finally stopped under achieving that same period.
Take this quote from Arsene Wenger about Arshavin (who he would later sign of course) during EURO 2008:

"Russia is the only country where a guy like him comes to the attention of the world at the age of 27. Suddenly, you discover him. It's not possible. You know every 21-year-old in France, Germany, Italy etc, but in this case we knew his name – but we had to see him play in a tournament like this."

But what about the current best players (other than Zyryanov!)?

Well other than Rubin Kazan who I've already covered and where Semak was also named defensive midfielder of the year, the obvious place to look would be CSKA Moscov who are enjoying a great Champions League run but then as these things often go had a subpar league run, finishing 5th.
The main creative force on that team seems to be Milos Krasic and it's possible he could end up as one of the big omissions on this list but from limited viewing he is still not a player I have a great idea of and how good really is. Other possible stars of the future would be Keisuke Honda and former Russian young player of the year, still only 19, Alan Dzagoev.

Back in their defense however I'm a little upset I missed out on what could have been the most correct shared ranking of all had I just included identical twin beasts Aleksei and Vasili Berezutski.

Also in defense quickly establishing himself as one of the better left-backs in the league 18 year old Georgi Schennikov looks really good especially going forward in a Zhirkov kind of way but has big holes in his defensive game.

Perhaps it should also be noted that Krasic wasn't even the best right winger in the RPL last season.
That honor goes to pacy Vladimir Bystrov who played a big part in Spartak Moscow's resurrection from recent nightmares and tellingly he was also the most fouled player in the whole league.
In the middle of Spartak's run though he would make an in season 15 million euro switch to Zenit (yes lots of money in Russian football), the club where he started his career. There his great form continued, maybe even improved, but I've seen some reports that it was that switch which cost him the player of the year award that instead went to Dominguez.

Zenit this season (just starting in Russia) managed by former Roma 4-6-0 revolutionary Luciano Spalletti, will have both Bystrov and Zyryanov (as well as Denisov who is another very good looking player AS WELL AS former Torino best well kept secret -actual good playmaker- Alessandro Rosina) and if I was in any way religious I'd be saving a little prayer that they'll get through Champions League qualification so we get to see whatever comes out of this very intriguing mix. As well as getting to see wonderful play from Zyryanov for perhaps the final time.

Thankfully indications are that he is still going strong. He was named left midfielder of the year for starteres! A place where I haven't seen him play all that much but he is a very versatile player and with Bystrov checking in on the right that's where we'll see him from now on I guess.

Zyryanov with his great stamina and work rate he has been able to take care of central midfield work throughout his career and with his vision, intelligence and ball control he'll also create from attacking midfield whether it's on the wing or central.

Zyryanov (Zyrianov or Zuruanov, I'm seeing all three out there) is a unique mix of complete central midfielder, wing and playmaker all rolled into one great player.

136:

Simon Rolfes

Bayer Leverkusen

Midfielder - Germany



The Leverkusen captain has really struggled with injuries lately and is having to come back from knee surgery twice between last season and now.
He started this season well enough and early on was another great influence in steering Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga table but then injury reappeared and late January he underwent a second knee operation.

That these troubles after years of game in game out service have surfaced during a World Cup year of course makes it extra bitter for Rolfes and I wonder if his place in the squad, let alone as the starting central midfielder he was establishing himself as, isn't now in serious danger.

Recent German national team central midfield mainstay Torsten Frings is long gone from contention, coach Joachim Löw has made that clear some time ago, but there is still plenty of competition from old names and new.
If we start with the oldest first, Michael Ballack, has slowly but surely seen the more defensive midfield roles mastered at Chelsea find their way onto the national team as well and even the younger but still national team veteran, Sebastian Schweinsteiger, for club team at least, is occupying more of a central midfielder role than before this season at Bayern München and doing well.

The most interesting of the younger names such as Sami Khedira and especially the more attacking midfielders such as Mesut Özil, Toni Kroos and the versatile Thomas Müller aren't direct competition for Rolfes, but they're still players it would (or should!) be tempting to make room for various places in the attacking midfield, by placing certain starters Ballack and Schweinsteiger further back.



To describe what Rolfes bring to the team I like this quote that I found from Raphael Honigstein:

Sometimes you feel that German football specifically invented this type of player to lull the competition into a false sense of security before a tournament ("They've got who in midfield? Ha, ha, ha. Oh bugger, they're in the semis again").

It might not look impressive, the balance his teamwork brings to a team but it's valuable.

Most impressive is probably Rolfes stamina that has to be one of the best around and it makes sense that he is known as a workhorse also when it comes to training. If that stamina and the impressive work rate and ground covered that comes with it is the reason he can do his job without being a so called "midfield destroyer" I don't know, but much more important anyway than flying around in tackles is being in the right defensive position. Actually if you do too much of the first it could easily be a sign of the latter lacking. That's not the case with Simon Rolfes and that's a good thing.

He isn't just a runner though but has enough skills to be a good two way player and perhaps most noteworthy his nice first touch passing game that's very valuable to the players mostly in front of him.

If it wasn't for his current injury problems he would be ranked higher and both Leverkusen and Germany will be better with a healthy Simon Rolfes.


135:

Ze Roberto

Hamburger SV

Midfielder - Brazil



A long time ago when he first arrived in Europe, Ze Roberto was a left-back and if I remember correctly at the time Brazil's second choice at that position.

Of course it just happened to be so that the team who signed him Real Madrid in their typical way of doing things not so sensible when it comes to transfers had already secured Brazil's undisputed number one at that position none other than Roberto Carlos.
Carlos of course would go on to have a great career at Real Madrid before losing his speed and towards the end fading badly.
Ze Roberto on the other hand went on to only play a handful of games for Madrid cause there just wasn't room for him, but perhaps in part thanks to Roberto Carlos stronghold of the left-back position, sought new territory in midfield, central and wing, and is still going strong now 13 years later aged 35.

Unbelievably after Ze Roberto left Real Madrid they signed another one of the best left-backs at the time Croatian Robert Jarni who had been excellent for years but also found himself behind Carlos.

Anyway to get back on track Ze Roberto has had a good long career in Germany with many seasons in both Leverkusen and Bayern München where he won four championships and over the years has even amassed 84 Brazil caps.

If this was last season where he was a most of the time starter on an underachieving Bayern side I probably would not have included an old player like Ze Roberto on this list and would question if he had that much more to offer at the highest level, but for his new team Hamburg he is having a very good season. Especially in the beginning he was quite sensational before getting injured but it's not like he is playing bad since coming back.

For a 35 year old he isn't slow but he is definitely more at ease in central attacking roles these days, and have been for a while, where he can exploit and find space not with great winger like pace, but through great technical skills and creativity. Those are definitely his main assets and always will be but to really function in a central midfield role, even if attacking, in a top European league, the work rate has to be there, defensively as well, and Ze Roberto still brings that which is impressive.

There was some controversy when he missed a mid-season training camp like Brazilians heading back to Europe after visiting home sometimes do, but the lazy Brazilian football player cliche isn't one you can put on Ze Roberto. He is in excellent condition and puts it to use.

The 200 best players in the world: New order

Time for some new order:




The 200-151 revisited:

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

Now I didn't waste too much time on this but I did feel like at least I had to put some kind of improvement of the order out there. As these things go some people were too high and other people way too low. But as new players I felt like had to be on the list kept surfacing the more messed up the lower part of the list became. This at least makes good on that somewhat.

It's obviously still close between a bunch of people and on another day it would look different. The highest ranked people on this "new order" would probably still squeeze ahead of quite a few people still to come and players like Sergio Ramos (as feared) and especially the Barcelona boys Pedro/Busquets (as specialist as it has become clear they are) and Fellaini like I've already mentioned several times, should (now) have been ranked way higher.

When I finally do get to a player I feel Fellaini shouldn't have been ranked ahead of I'll try to remember and mention it!

Anyway on to doing more write ups. Working on them as we speak and there should be another update some time tomorrow.

The 200 best players in the world: 143 - 139

No marathon writeups in this update and I'm just itching to get to the top 100. I can feel it!


The list:

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
147-144
147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Argentina
146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile
145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England
144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain


143:

Hey it's the Portuguese central midfielder special:

Miguel Veloso



and

Joao Moutinho

both Sporting Lissabon - Midfield



+

Raul Meireles

also central midfielder but FC Porto



Because I almost never get to see football from Portugal, these are definitely not the three players I'm most qualified to talk about, so if there are any fans or experts on Portuguese football reading, your views on these players would be very welcome.
Just please no talk of Javi Garcia or other central midfielders from Liga Sagres that I haven't seen much being much better or much more deserving. Spare me!

Anyway, from seeing these three over the years I'm of course confident that they're very good. I'm also aware that they're generally regarded as such.

In some ways even though there are quite a few differences in what they offer I think they all battle for central midfield playing time on the national team as well.

On the defensive side of things Meireles unquestionably is the number one. He has successfully operated the FC Porto defensive midfield for years now and he also looks to be Portugal's first choice in that position come World Cup time with most of the previous rivals for that spot getting too old.

One that could have been a rival is actually Miguel Veloso but from what I understand he never really became quite good enough defensively. What Meireles and him do have in common though is their excellent range of passing.

I'm kinda guessing here but it could be that Veloso because of Moutinho so far in their careers being the more attacking midfielder type of the two has used a lot of time playing the deeper midfield role where his range of passing was really useful, while Moutinho kind of like a Deco excels in the short passing game where both his movement and technique are really good.

Technically Veloso is very good as well and has nice ball control. He is also very good on set pieces and likes to move himself in position to cross the ball as well.

He has been connected with a number of big clubs and it would be really interesting to see if he is good enough to hold a defensive midfield role in a stronger league. I think if he was to move to England we would see what perhaps is already taking place this season at Sporting, a more attacking role for Veloso with less defensive responsibility, and a good chance for him to really put his considerable skills to use in the final third.

On the other hand if he was to move to Italy I could definitely see him in a deep-lying play-maker role with defensive positioning as part of the job description but also with protection from more outright defensive midfielders doing a lot of the dirty work, moreso than perhaps in Portugal, he could then really focus on being a play-maker.

Moutinho other than being a skilled attacking midfielder also has good work rate and teamwork and just like with Veloso it would be really interesting to see what kind of success (or failure) he would have in one of the strongest leagues.

142:

Bacary Sagna

Arsenal

Right back - France



Sagna rivals any fullback on this list defensively where he is as good as it gets.

He is both fast and strong enough + a good tackler to make him very hard to beat one on one and he also consistently helps out the central defenders. For an attacking team like Arsenal his defensive contributions (yes he is another one of those defenders who I would say has a great range of command) are invaluable.

It's when we start talking about going forward that we get to what's stopping him from climbing a lot higher. On the one hand his fantastic stamina makes sure that he is always there as a passing option on the right and I think that he has a decent, perhaps improved, cross too. But unlike a lot of fullbacks on this list he doesn't really become a weapon offensively. Like get into positions where his crosses could become really dangerous or make piercing runs into the penalty area.

Of course it could just be if that were to happen, Arsenal would be left with only 2 or 3 people defending and with plenty of attacking talent coming from other places, what they need most of all is an excellent defender, and in Sagna they certainly got that.

In some games though with fullbacks generally becoming such an important part of the attacking game they really could use more of an attacking contribution from out there as well.

Especially if a lot of the attacking players have their main strengths central, and I do think that's why (and I know resting plays in as well) we've seen someone very attack minded like Eboue recently (at the time of writing) get starts at right-back against certain park-the-bus type of opponents.

141:

Eljero Elia

Hamburger SV

Winger/Forward - Netherlands



Elia was named Dutch football talent of the year in 2009 and with some terrific performances for his new club Hamburg, both scoring and assisting goals, he has perhaps already established himself as one of the most exciting attacking players in the world.

He has also been rewarded with call ups to the national team and looks likely to go to the World Cup, where he might even end up starring since of course the likes of Arjen Robben and Robbie Van Persie both have quite the history of injuries.

In playing style you could say that Elia is quite similar to Robben. He has great acceleration, pace and dribbling ability and though definitely not on the nearly unstoppable level that Robben can take those things to, I have noticed at least one thing I like more in Elia's game than Robben's, a nice unselfishness that's resulting sometimes in some really nice passes basically anywhere on the pitch, including central in tight space, which I think is a very good sign. There is definitely creativity in Elia's game which makes you wonder just how good he is on the brink of becoming. Or already is.

As far as weaknesses go other than the obvious defensive ones where he doesn't offer much at all, I would say he could become a lot stronger and get even better balance. Someone like Robben for an example is crazy strong which I'm not sure a lot of people notice and can be almost unmovable unless you foul him.

Talent wise it could be argued that Elia should be even higher. But of course as far as him really proving he is an excellent player it could be argued he should be lower.

I've definitely seen too many good things from him to fear that his limit is say Ryan Babel but I'm also a little hesitant in elevating someone to the top 100 when outside of the relative weak Eredivisie, he doesn't have a full Bundesliga season under his belt yet.

140:

Marko Marin

Werder Bremen

Winger - Germany



Hey it's the German Giovinco, kind of, except of course little Marko plays all the time for his club team and is on the national team as well :(

At only 168 cm (5'6) Marin is quick and extremely agile and his quick turns with the ball using his good control can be a nightmare for defenders. There is no doubt especially when coming from the wing that Marin is one of the best dribblers on the list and if in transition he maintains very good speed running with the ball.

One thing I'm not sure of yet regarding him is his general passing skills. Obviously he is not bad but for an example when it comes to crossing his dribbling and pace can bring him so far into enemy territory that more so than just electing to cross the ball it often ends up in combinations with teammates in and around the area.

His energy over 90 minutes is also very impressive and something that has perhaps improved this season where he sees less substitutions.

Again the weaknesses are pretty obvious. He is very small and though strength will likely still improve he can't be expected to be much of a presence defensively.

139:

Giuseppe Rossi

Villarreal

Forward - Italy



American born Rossi is a very skilled player who not long ago I would have ranked higher, but he's been struggling a bit this season which is perhaps his first bad one in his still young career.

He is a player with excellent technique in most areas. Very good ball control, at times exquisite passing and he has a great shot.

The negatives I think are that he has shown himself pretty limited to a role of second striker.

As a wide forward his effectiveness is too reduced to being around the penalty area, he offers almost nothing further back, and as a main striker he lacks power and maybe some pace plus work rate to really be a serious goalscoring threat without a partner that he can cooperate closely with through his great technique.

Without the ball he has never quite become good enough and often falls through on the work that's needed in both of these positions, if we're talking highest level.

Where he is excellent though is in the middle of where things happen in the final third, preferable in a functioning possession game (that could easily be the problem for Villarreal where the standard has really fallen) where he'll get lots of touches. The more the merrier. Then good things happen and even without much space at all he has great ability to be effective whether it's a great pass, shot or dribble.

If you look at ability alone he has a very good case for the World Cup. Even if it's close between several players. Not long ago he was certain. But his limitations tactically and a possible Italy comeback from Francesco Totti, who still does most things just a little bit better than Rossi, could easily prevent it.

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!