Top 100 Footballers of 2017

Hadoop

Registered User
Aug 13, 2002
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It's the end of the year again, which mean various football publications have releases their annual top 100 lists (which I always find interesting since soccer, unlike hockey/basketball/baseball/football has so many top leagues). Two of the best-known are the FourFourTwo Top 100 list and The Guardian Top 100 list, which are below.

At first glance the FourFourTwo list seems to be better, although there is plenty to debate about for both lists

FourFourTwo:

1Lionel Messi
2Cristiano Ronaldo
3Neymar
4Robert Lewandowski
5Kevin De Bruyne
6Luka Modric
7N'Golo Kanté
8Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
9Sergio Agüero
10Edinson Cavani
11Gonzalo Higuaín
12Jan Oblak
13Harry Kane
14Mauro Icardi
15Eden Hazard
16Paulo Dybala
17Sergio Ramos
18Dries Mertens
19Paul Pogba
20Antoine Griezmann
21Isco
22David de Gea
23Toni Kroos
24Sergio Busquets
25David Silva
26Kylian Mbappé
27Thibaut Courtois
28Gianluigi Buffon
29Luis Suárez
30Marcelo
31Marco Verratti
32Mohamed Salah
33Casemiro
34Thiago Alcântara
35Alexis Sánchez
36Gabriel Jesus
37Gerard Piqué
38Radja Nainggolan
39César Azpilicueta
40Philippe Coutinho
41Marc-André ter Stegen
42Arjen Robben
43Andrés Iniesta
44Kalidou Koulibaly
45Mats Hummels
46Radamel Falcao
47Manuel Neuer
48Lorenzo Insigne
49Christian Eriksen
50Romelu Lukaku
51Timo Werner
52Miralem Pjanic
53Leonardo Bonucci
54Marek Hamsik
55Keylor Navas
56Joshua Kimmich
57Diego Godín
58Dani Carvajal
59Ederson
60Gareth Bale
61Álvaro Morata
62Jorginho
63Dani Alves
64Naby Keïta
65Leroy Sané
66Toby Alderweireld
67Jordi Alba
68Jan Vertonghen
69David Alaba
70Sadio Mane
71Hugo Lloris
72Alex Sandro
73Fernandinho
74Emil Forsberg
75Raheem Sterling
76Thiago Silva
77Arturo Vidal
78Giorgio Chiellini
79Koke
80Niklas Süle
81Alexandre Lacazette
82Nabil Fekir
83Dele Alli
84Samir Handanovic
85Filipe Luis
86Cesc Fàbregas
87Ivan Rakitic
88Thomas Muller
89Karim Benzema
90Gianluigi Donnarumma
91Thomas Lemar
92Antonio Valencia
93Raphaël Varane
94Javi Martinez
95Marco Asensio
96Roberto Firmino
97Samuel Umtiti
98Edin Dzeko
99Adrien Rabiot
100Christian Pulisic
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The Guardian:

1Lionel Messi
2Cristiano Ronaldo
3Neymar
4Kevin De Bruyne
5Harry Kane
6Luka Modric
7Robert Lewandowski
8Kylian Mbappé
9Toni Kroos
10Eden Hazard
11Sergio Ramos
12Isco
13Edinson Cavani
14Paulo Dybala
15Luis Suárez
16Gianluigi Buffon
17N'Golo Kanté
18Antoine Griezmann
19Marcelo
20Sergio Agüero
21Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
22Mohamed Salah
23David de Gea
24Philippe Coutinho
25Christian Eriksen
26Dani Alves
27Dries Mertens
28Casemiro
29Andrés Iniesta
30Paul Pogba
31Dele Alli
32Alexis Sánchez
33Mauro Icardi
34Gonzalo Higuaín
35Jan Oblak
36Sadio Mané
37Romelu Lukaku
38David Silva
39Gabriel Jesus
40Manuel Neuer
41Radamel Falcao
42Marco Asensio
43Edin Dzeko
44Lorenzo Insigne
45Leonardo Bonucci
46Sergio Busquets
47Álvaro Morata
48Marco Verratti
49Thiago Alcântara
50Gareth Bale
51Karim Benzema
52César Azpilicueta
53Naby Keïta
54Timo Werner
55Marc-André ter Stegen
56Giorgio Chiellini
57Ivan Rakitic
58Gerard Piqué
59Ousmane Dembélé
60Zlatan Ibrahimovic
61Leroy Sané
62Raheem Sterling
63Diego Godín
64Joshua Kimmich
65Thibaut Courtois
66Arturo Vidal
67Mesut Özil
68Diego Costa
69Emil Forsberg
70Mats Hummels
71Ciro Immobile
72Radja Nainggolan
73Samuel Umtiti
74Nemanja Matic
75Marcus Rashford
76Thiago Silva
77Christian Pulisic
78Keylor Navas
79Arjen Robben
80Saúl Ñíguez
81Hugo Lloris
82Toby Alderweireld
83David Luiz
84Bernardo Silva
85Miralem Pjanic
86Dani Carvajal
87Thomas Lemar
88Koke
89Jordi Alba
90Alex Sandro
91Fabinho
92Henrikh Mkhitaryan
93Cesc Fàbregas
94David Alaba
95Raphaël Varane
96Jamie Vardy
97Benjamin Mendy
98Mario Mandzukic
99Adrien Rabiot
100Ángel Di María
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
 

Duchene2MacKinnon

In the hands of Genius
Aug 8, 2006
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I laughed at where Dybala was, than laughed harder when I realized how low Biscuits was and absolutely lost t when I saw he's 2nd ranking... the likes of ASENSIO higher than him. Lol
 

Evilo

Registered User
Mar 17, 2002
61,956
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France
Cavani is one goal shy of being the best scorer of 2007. He's also the best defensive 9 in the game.
Yet he's the 8th ranked forward and 4th 9.

He's ranked behind Aguero who has less goals, less defensive impact and less international games credibility.

Also Mbappe that low given the year he's had? LOL. I must have missed Pogba's first 6 months because him being ranked over plenty of better 2017 players is weird.
 
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Paulie Gualtieri

R.I.P. Tony Sirico
May 18, 2016
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Awful. The Guardian happens to be PL-biased by ranking the likes of Alli, Jesus and Mane extremely high and putting Vardy on the list, but still excludes Vertonghen (better than Alderweireld in 2017) and Firmino.
 

Paulie Gualtieri

R.I.P. Tony Sirico
May 18, 2016
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Kane 5...

Don't see too much of an issue with Kane being at number five according to the Guardian. These lists are based on 2017 performances and he has been phenomenal. Amount of goals this calendar year including international competition:

Cavani: 54 in 58 games.
Messi: 54 in 64 games.
Kane: 53 in 49 games.
Lewandowski: 53 in 56 games.
Ronaldo: 53 in 60 games.

He has quite the superior ratio (which looks even better if you exclude penalties), and he just so happens to have a game left in 2017. He could top that list by boxing day.

If I'm modest I'd put him at number seven.
 
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Wee Baby Seamus

Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
Mar 15, 2011
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De Bruyne at 5 and 4 is so god damn "what have you done for me lately." Aguero over Hazard is a hoot. Mbappé, Lemar, and Dzeko are strikingly low on the FourFourTwo list.
 

Deficient Mode

Registered User
Mar 25, 2011
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Don't see too much of an issue with Kane being at number five according to the Guardian. These lists are based on 2017 performances and he has been phenomenal. Amount of goals this calendar year including international competition:

Cavani: 54 in 58 games.
Messi: 54 in 64 games.
Kane: 53 in 49 games.
Lewandowski: 53 in 56 games.
Ronaldo: 53 in 60 games.

He has quite the superior ratio (which looks even better if you exclude penalties), and he just so happens to have a game left in 2017. He could top that list by boxing day.

If I'm modest I'd put him at number seven.

And how - if you were modest - would he stack up to all other non-goal scorers?
 

Hadoop

Registered User
Aug 13, 2002
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Took a look at both lists. The FourFourTwo list is honestly not bad (and I challenge anyone else on here to come up with their own list). Biggest gripes are that Auba and Higuain are a tad too high and Dzeko is too low while Ousmane Dembélé is not on the list at all.

The Guardian list is pretty bad though. Some glaring overrating of several Real Madrid, (ex-)Juve and EPL players (Kroos, Isco, Buffon, Alves, Dele, Mané, Asensio, Bonucci are all too high IMO while Rashford is surely not top 100 yet). As for underrated players Busquets and Nainggolan are way too low. Also Koulibaly, Handanovic and Hamsik aren't even on the list, though hardly surprising since the English sports media like most people around here could care less about Serie A.
 

Paulie Gualtieri

R.I.P. Tony Sirico
May 18, 2016
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And how - if you were modest - would he stack up to all other non-goal scorers?

Now, I'm not saying that I rate him highest of those attackers just because he has quite the superior goals/minute ratio. Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar have had better years, and I could see where those suggesting Cavani and Lewa are coming from. Midfielders/Defenders are always ranked lower on these lists. The only one I'd clearly put ahead of him is Modric. KDB/Kroos are debatable.
 

Deficient Mode

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Mar 25, 2011
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Now, I'm not saying that I rate him highest of those attackers just because he has quite the superior goals/minute ratio. Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar have had better years, and I could see where those suggesting Cavani and Lewa are coming from. Midfielders/Defenders are always ranked lower on these lists. The only one I'd clearly put ahead of him is Modric. KDB/Kroos are debatable.

And just because you hammer in 30 goals - like it seems 10 guys do every year - it doesn't make you better than the best midfielders/defenders. Aubameyang is closer to 8th best player on BVB than 8th best player in the world. Even though I'd easily take Kane over Aubameyang, he's an example of this too.
 

Paulie Gualtieri

R.I.P. Tony Sirico
May 18, 2016
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You're right that Kane bangs in many goals.



However that's not the only thing he does. To me he is a complete striker with an immense workrate. He consistently drops deep to support his teammates in defending or to set them up (doesn't do it to the same extent for England) . Good playmaker for a striker. Was an attacking midfielder until he was 15 y/o or so.

I agree that defenders/midfielders should be ranked higher in these lists, but in that case most attackers would be ranked lower.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
57,224
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Lukaku 7th LMAO

Thats actually much worse than Kane at #2. Kane is not the second best player in the world, although I could hear arguments for top 5. Lukaku isn't even a top 10 player at his position.
 

Wee Baby Seamus

Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
Mar 15, 2011
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Halifax/Toronto
If those lists rustled a few feathers, how about this?:

Top 100 players of 2017: Full list

Jesus f***ing Christ.

Modric at 97.
De Gea at 96.
Verratti at 94.
Kante at 91.

Even within the first 10 on the list, this is hilarious and awful. All four of those guys could viably be in the top 10, and instead they're in the bottom. Hysterical.

The write-ups don't even try and justify the stupid rankings. "Gylfi Sigurdsson has struggled to replicate his form at Swansea for Everton, but we're still putting him forty spots ahead of Luka Modric because why the f*** not."

Tottenham have the 2nd, 5th, and 18th best players in the world, and their backup left-back is better than all other EPL left-backs, and yet they remain in 5th place.
 
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Cassano

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Aug 31, 2013
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Jesus ****ing Christ.

Modric at 97.
De Gea at 96.
Verratti at 94.
Kante at 91.

Even within the first 10 on the list, this is hilarious and awful. All four of those guys could viably be in the top 10, and instead they're in the bottom. Hysterical.

The write-ups don't even try and justify the stupid rankings. "Gylfi Sigurdsson has struggled to replicate his form at Swansea for Everton, but we're still putting him forty spots ahead of Luka Modric because why the **** not."

Tottenham have the 2nd, 5th, and 18th best players in the world, and their backup left-back is better than all other EPL left-backs, and yet they remain in 5th place.
The English media has a huge hard-on for Spurs. Not surprising.
 

Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
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Of all the players Kane being 5th is the one that sticks out? Don’t really know what to say.

I guess he isn’t fast. He can’t skip passed players. He just isn’t very sexy. Still pretty decent player though. Are quite a few players on that list that is significantly more misplaced than Kane.
 

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