Featuring a pair of Tottenham terrors and two Milan-based goal machines...
Words: Adam Digby, Chris Flanagan, Huw Davies, James Maw, Joe Brewin, David Cartlidge
80. Carlos Bacca
The exception to the norm at Milan: Carlos Bacca isn't young, Italian nor a product of the Rossoneri youth sector. Yet while the San Siro outfit are looking to rebuild their crumbled reputation around the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma and Manuel Locatelli, it's the 30-year-old Colombia international who has kept them afloat.
Bacca has bagged 26 goals in his first 55 games, maintaining pace with the strike rate he recorded at Sevilla (49 in 108) despite the team around him struggling to create chances. Simply put, no matter how badly Milan have performed, Bacca has still been finding the back of the net with deadly accuracy. – AD
79. Ilkay Gundogan
The midfielder spent two years out of the FFT100 after his headline-grabbing year of 2013, in which he scored in the Champions League final for Borussia Dortmund. But the 26-year-old has earned a FFT recall after a year in which he's impressed in both Germany and England, either side of a five-month injury lay-off.
Linked with a move away from Dortmund for some time, it said much about Gundogan's talent that Pep Guardiola was prepared to make him his first signing for Manchester City in June, despite the player dislocating his knee cap in training little more than a month previously.
A key man in BVB’s resurgence last season, he's flourished since returning to fitness at City too, combining passing skills with an ability to join the attack and get on the scoresheet. Gundogan even netted four times in the space of four autumn days, bagging a brace at West Brom and then following it up with a double in the unforgettable Champions League win over Barcelona. – CF
78. Kevin Gameiro
The Frenchman has been a regular goalscorer throughout his career, but he kicked on to another level in the second half of 2015/16. Gameiro netted 20 times for Sevilla after the turn of the year, eight of which came in the Rojiblancos’ run to a third consecutive Europa League trophy.
Typically reliable in front of goal, he crucially scored three times in the semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk, before his equaliser 17 seconds after half-time turned the tide against Liverpool in the Basel-hosted final. The 29-year-old’s form prompted Atletico Madrid to pay €32mn to take him to the Vicente Calderon, where he’s already been among the goals.
A penalty-box predator, the former Strasbourg, Lorient and PSG forward may not score too many spectacular goals, but Gameiro has long understood the value of the tap-in. Even the slightest lapse of concentration in defence will be punished when he's around. – CF
77. Samuel Umtiti
Few players could join Barcelona at 22 and immediately see regular first-team action. Samuel Umtiti, however, doesn’t like to hang around.
The centre-back made his international debut at the Stade de France in the hosts’ Euro 2016 quarter-final (and misplaced none of his 76 passes). He kept his place for the semi, then the final. And all it took for him to get that chance was Adil Rami being banned, Mamadou Sakho being absent, Raphael Varane and Jeremy Mathieu being injured and Eliaquim Mangala being crap.
Umtiti took that chance and is now doing the same at Barcelona. In September, manager Luis Enrique admitted his surprise at how the defender, after only four games, “has adapted very quickly to a position where the club has always had handicaps”. The signs were there: he was superb in Lyon’s flying finish to 2015/16, when 11 wins in 14 games earned them a Champions League place. Nonetheless, Umtiti is progressing even faster than expected. – HD
Next: For me, yes
76. Marcelo
Marcelo remains one of the most unheralded members of Real Madrid’s elite squad, but is nonetheless a key component in it. The Brazilian is one of the longest-serving members at the club – he arrived when he was just 18 – and his contributions have steadily increased over the years. Few young players can deal with the pressure that wearing the famous white shirt brings, but Marcelo has navigated every hurdle along the way.
Now, after 10 years with the club, he’s a resolute presence at full-back and has seen off the challenge from Fabio Coentrao to be los Blancos' undisputed left-back. Over time he has shored up in his defensive work, but it’s in attack where he has become a formidable, vital presence. Some of Madrid’s best moves stem from the 29-year-old, and his vibrancy in Real Madrid’s most recent Champions League triumph underpinned his importance to the team. The same can be said for when he’s with Brazil, for whom he is a key and experienced face helping bring in a new generation. – DC
75. Dele Alli
It’s a little under two years since Tottenham made a low-key £5m move for a promising midfielder plying his trade in England’s third tier. Dele Alli’s January 2015 move to Spurs didn’t make major headlines, but since arriving at White Hart Lane the following summer – having been loaned back to MK Dons just long enough to help them earn promotion to the Championship – he’s had people talking pretty much constantly.
There have been nutmegs (loads of them), and wonder goals – most notably his Goal of the Season contender at Crystal Palace – and the little moments of aggression that have enraged opposition fans and players, too.
“I like to just go out there and be myself,” Alli told FFT earlier this year. “Sometimes I get carried away with things, but I’m young and I’ve still got a lot to learn. Hugo Lloris has been a great influence on me at Tottenham and he’s spoken to me about it, too. He told me not to let that aggressive side fall out of my game, so I’m just going to keep being myself.”
Still, if he can focus more on the skill and less on the sh*thousing, he could become one of the Premier League and world’s best. – JM
74. Roberto Firmino
Firmino’s old Hoffenheim team-mates can barely believe that the scrawny young Brazilian who pitched up in Sinsheim almost five years ago is the same brilliant forward who’s now thriving at Liverpool in his second Premier League season.
It’s not that the now-25-year-old wasn’t good – it just took him a while (two-and-a-half seasons) to properly get going after arriving from Figueirense in January 2011. But that featherweight teenager is no more, replaced by a versatile and brilliant Brazil international who is part of Jurgen Klopp’s fearsome front three at Anfield.
Firmino has shone as a false nine in tandem with Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mané, having kicked on in the second half of last term with nine goals in his last 14 games (starting with a brace against Arsenal). This season has been even better: Firmino plundered five goals in his first 10 games and had a direct hand in six more. On song the trio are practically unstoppable – much like Firmino’s progression right now. – JB
Next: Italian football's most controversial character
73. Claudio Marchisio
Claudio Marchisio is, without question, the unsung hero behind the success that Juventus have enjoyed over the past five seasons. While the likes of Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo each moved on to new challenges, the Turin native remained, becoming an even more vital part of the team under Max Allegri than he was under predecessor Antonio Conte.
Formerly an energetic box-to-box midfielder with a knack for scoring important goals, Marchisio has reinvented himself as a defensive anchor and adept passer, ensuring the Bianconeri maintain a high tempo when in possession. A torn ACL meant he missed the start of the current season, and Juve struggled to reach their usual high standards without the tactical intelligence and calming influence of the criminally underrated 30-year-old. – AD
72. Harry Kane
Tournament years are often defined by their marquee competitions, but the Tottenham striker should be grateful we’re broadening our analysis a little wider.
Having rattled in 25 Premier League goals in 2015/16 – four more than he managed in his breakout season – Harry Kane travelled to Euro 2016 tipped to be among the competition’s top scorers. Yet a jaded-looking 23-year-old failed to find the net as England crashed out at the last 16 stage. Roy Hodgson, already the England manager before last, may regret his curious decision to make the 6ft 2in Spurs goal machine take corners.
Yet with his club side, the Chingford-born hitman has proven himself to be among the very best forwards that the Premier League has to offer. His goals, including an incredible bending effort against arch-rivals Arsenal in March, helped Spurs to a 3rd-place finish – their best in over 25 years.
An early-season injury slowed his progress in 2016/17, but he still managed to become the 11th-fastest player to reach 50 Premier League goals. He returned just in time to score his fifth goal in five league matches in November, before netting a dramatic late brace against West Ham. – JM
71. Mauro Icardi
“Just focus on the football” would be perfect advice for both Mauro Icardi and his growing band of critics. The fallout from the love-triangle spat with former team-mate Maxi Lopez and his wife Wanda Nara was bad enough, but he's now also developed a knack of upsetting Inter supporters – both in person and via his controversial autobiography.
Yet all that simply detracts from the fact that the Nerazzurri skipper remains a deadly striker who loves performing in big games. Icardi has repeatedly proven to be the one player that Juventus's vaunted defence cannot shackle (seven goals in eight matches to date), and his overall Serie A record of a strike every other game stems directly from his incredible accuracy in front of goal. Deadly, destructive and always in the headlines – just not always for the right reasons. – AD
The list
- 100-91 • 90-81 • 80-71 • 70-61 • 60-51 • 50-41 • 40-31 • 30-26 • 25 • 24 • 23 • 22 • 21• 20 • 19 • 18 • 17 • 16 • 15 • 14 • 13 • 12 • 11 • 10 • 9 • 8 • 7 • 6 • 5 • 4 • 3 • 2 • 1
FourFourTwo’s Best 100 Football Players in the World 2016
