Featuring two top U21s and a brilliant Evertonian…
Words: Huw Davies, Joe Brewin, Simon Harrison, Harriet Drudge, Andy Murray, Seb Stafford-Bloor, Gregor MacGregor, Ben Clark, Andrew Gibney.
90. Romelu Lukaku
Lukaku divides opinion – to some he’s a fine all-round striker who deserves his upward move away from Everton; to others he’s far from the finished article who should stay grounded for his own good.
But of course he’s not the finished article – the Belgian's still only 23, for crying out loud. That's easily forgotten given that Lukaku started his first-team career as a 16-year-old with Anderlecht and has remained firmly in the public consciousness ever since with high-profile and (mostly successful) stints at Chelsea, West Brom and Everton.
The facts, then: he’s one of only five players to score 50 Premier League goals before his 23rd birthday; plus, he boasts a goals-per-game record virtually in line with Robbie Fowler, Les Ferdinand and Didier Drogba, and significantly better than the likes of Dwight Yorke, Nicolas Anelka and Kevin Phillips.
Euro 2016 was disappointing by his standards, even after a very quiet end to 2015/16 with Everton, but life is good again under Ronald Koeman in 2016/17: after 10 games of the new campaign he’d already plundered seven goals. “His potential is greater and higher than Everton as a final destination," said his own manager in November. But where from here? – JB
89. Kalidou Koulibaly
After an unimpressive debut season in Naples, the arrival of new manager Maurizio Sarri seemed to spell bad news for Senegal's boisterous centre-back. With Napoli bemoaning their worst defensive record since 1997/98 (a season when they finished bottom), Koulibaly was shelled with criticism.
However, the incoming boss dismissed suggestions he would be looking for defensive reinforcements. Over the next nine months Napoli produced one of their finest seasons in recent memory, with Koulibaly hugely influential in a backline that conceded just 32 goals – their best defending since last winning the league in 1990.
A turbulent summer featuring non-stop transfer talk of a £50m move to the Premier League has unfortunately been followed by a stalled start to the season by both Napoli and Koulibaly, while Sarri admitted during pre-season that his leading defender was still prone to "dumb errors". Far from the finished product, the 25-year-old has signed a new five-year contract, though, and there's no doubting his place in the Partenopei's foreseeable future. – BC
88. Adrien Rabiot
If coming on against Real Madrid in the Champions League last year was Rabiot’s coming-out party, the curly-haired midfielder has since been strutting around and showing everyone why he's so highly rated in 2016.
The young left-footer has excelled first for Laurent Blanc and now under Unai Emery, keeping summer signing Grzegorz Krychowiak out of the side for long periods. Rabiot’s long legs make his an able body in defensive situations, while he reads the game well and spreads play with an excellent passing range.
Despite having Blaise Matuidi, Marco Verratti and Thiago Motta as midfield options, it’s Rabiot who's impressed most this season, earning his first full France cap in the process. He has everything you'd want in a modern midfielder, and it won’t be long until he’s the player PSG are building their team around. – AG
87. Filipe Luis
Of all the crimes committed by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, spending £15.8m on Atletico Madrid defender Filipe Luis in the summer of 2014, then giving him seven league starts (two of which came after the Premier League title had been secured) will always feature towards the top of the misdemeanours.
A contender for the best left-back in the world at the time, the Brazilian has been reinvigorated by a return to the Vicente Calderon. A near ever-present as los Colchoneros reached a second Champions League final in three seasons – and featuring in both – the 31-year-old is everything a modern full-back should be: strong in the tackle, defensively astute and excellent going forward.
Luis’s partnership down Atleti’s left with the rapidly improving Yannick Carrasco is vital to coach Diego Simeone’s counter-attacking strategy and will go a long way to securing silverware in the club’s last season at the Calderon. – AM
Next: The striker who just needed minutes
86. Santi Cazorla
"Have you seen Santi Cazorla? You think I'm small? He's up to here on me and he's brilliant."
Xavi Hernandez, as quoted by Sid Lowe in a 2012 Guardian article.
The relevance is that, like the Barcelona icon, traditional thinking suggests Cazorla should be too small to operate in central midfield. He's slender and slight, technical and creative. He was all of those things in 2016, but most often – and unexpectedly – from deep. The arrival of Mesut Ozil and then Alexis Sanchez seemed to signify the end of his Arsenal career, but Cazorla has instead been repurposed as a line-breaking deep-lying playmaker and recommissioned by Arsene Wenger to guard the side's temperament and direct its attacking focus.
In spite of all the logical caveats, it turns out he was just the right size for that hole. Arsenal have recently found a rhythmic balance that they haven't had for many years, with Cazorla’s broad and brilliant skill set helping them to strike those key notes. – SSB
85. Andrea Barzagli
Every year Andrea Barzagli is written off, and every year he patiently proves everyone wrong. The 35-year-old sees pretenders arrive to take his place in the Juventus backline and swats them away like flies; with his contract extended once again, we can expect that to continue in the next 12 months.
It’s easy to dismiss Barzagli as makeweight in the famous back three (with Gianluigi Buffon behind them) that comprise Juventus and Italy’s defensive unit. It’s easy, but it’s wrong. While the prestige went to Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, Barzagli was arguably the best – certainly the most consistent – defender in Serie A last season. His unsung good work continued in Italy’s impressive Euro 2016 showing under his old Bianconeri boss, Antonio Conte.
In January 2011, a 7th-placed Juventus paid £300,000 for Barzagli’s services. Since that season, they’ve won five consecutive Scudetti. The two facts aren’t totally unrelated. – H. Davies
84. Javier Hernandez
Now in his second season in Germany, Javier Hernandez’s goalscoring record is the envy of strikers across Europe, having notched 33 times in 58 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen.
His goalscoring pedigree is no surprise; he's Mexico's second-highest goalscorer of all time and, despite leaving Manchester United in September 2014 (initially on loan to Real Madrid), his goals-per-minute ratio remains fourth-best in the Premier League behind Sergio Aguero, Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
An impressive debut season was followed by an explosive start to 2016/17, with seven goals in his first eight appearances. They may have dried up of late – his last came in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund at the beginning of October – but the Mexican may well earn himself another big-money move if he continues on his current trajectory.
Bayer will do their best to cling on to the player they label as their “life insurance”, though, such has been the 28-year-old's effect in North Rhine-Westphalia since his surprise arrival in 2015. – H. Drudge
Next: The Premier League record-breaker
83. Keylor Navas
Real Madrid kept 14 clean sheets in 38 La Liga games last season, conceding just 34 times in a campaign where Keylor Navas made 34 appearances. An Achilles problem ruled the Costa Rica international out of the Copa America Centenario and pre-season, but the ex-Levante goalkeeper has been able to quickly supersede Kiko Casilla once again.
More recently, Navas has been ever-present for Costa Rica and kept three clean sheets in World Cup qualifying clashes with Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, with his razor-sharp reflexes and strong wrists earning him widespread respect between the sticks.
Quick off his line in one-on-one situations, the armspan of Navas continues to tip the odds of victory further in the favour of Real Madrid and his national side. – SH
82. Jamie Vardy
Forget about the difficult start to 2016/17 for a minute – Vardy was virtually unstoppable last season as Leicester romped to the Premier League title (and romp they did, by a barely believable 10 points), finishing the season with 24 goals and the top flight’s player of the year gong.
There weren’t many feelings at the King Power Stadium quite like the one when Vardy was bearing down on goal having left a defender in his wake. It was almost one of relief: Leicester fans simply knew he’d score.
As well as breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record for goals in consecutive games – 11 over a three-month spell from late August to November – Vardy was crucial in the post-New Year run-in. There was that volley against Liverpool which cracked open a tight game; then, in the home stretch, he netted both goals in a nervy 2-0 win at Sunderland and opened the scoring against West Ham.
It was also the year in which he established himself as an England squad regular, scoring in consecutive internationals against Germany, Holland and Turkey before grabbing another at Euro 2016. Then he turned down Arsenal – one chapter that won’t be written in this rags-to-riches tale. – JB
81. Hugo Lloris
The France and Tottenham captain has had an excellent 12 months, propelling both club and country to near honours. Spurs' title tilt was built on the joint-best defensive record in the division, before France were narrowly beaten by Portugal in the final of Euro 2016.
Still, a nomination for the Ballon d’Or isn’t a bad runner-up prize for the custodian who's yet again helping to solidify his club side's backline. Just forget Tottenham's European jaunts.
Although the Champions League sojourn has been a wasted campaign for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, Lloris emerges with credit – witness his wonder saves against Bayer Leverkusen and some outrageous reactions to thwart Kamil Glik and Monaco on matchday five. The next step for the 29-year-old is leading his team to a major trophy. – GM
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
