Football’s one of those things that everyone has an opinion on, so coming up with the ten best players of the calendar year is quite the task.
It’s been made so much harder by players who had a standout six months, and then went to crap once the 2015/16 season hit, but we’ve done our best.
Oh, and for those who are wondering why Eden Hazard and John Terry have missed out, can anyone really justify putting them in the list when they’ve been so poor since this season started? Nope, didn’t think so.
So here we have it.
Willian
Last season he popped up with a goal or two, and worked so hard for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side.
Willian has always been a good player, but this season he has become a great one.
His free kick conversion rate is second to none, and he’s literally carried Chelsea this season.
In a torrid period for the Blues, he’s stood up and been counted. A hero among cowards.
Keylor Navas
The Real Madrid keeper not only starred in Real Madrid’s start to the season, and had the backing of all the fans, even in the wake of the De Gea saga, he kept keeping those clean sheets.
Navas is a key player for the club, and things all started to go wrong for Real when Navas was injured.
Even in the wake of the Clasico defeat, Navas retained some credit which is more than can be said for a lot of the players.
Alexis Sanchez
He was key for Arsenal last season, and this season has stepped it up another gear.
The Gunners have a real shot at the title, and keeping Sanchez fit and firing is key to that.
The fact Alexis also won the Copa America doesn’t harm his cause either.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The current Ballon d’Or holder, but someone who has been disappointing by his standards since the new season started.
That being said, Ronaldo is still the top scorer from the Champions League group stages, and in a Real Madrid side with very little confidence and a manager who clearly has little confidence in the forward.
Lionel Messi
The best player in the world. Probably ever.
Messi’s 2015 took things to new levels, and must have left rival Ronaldo scratching his head, wondering what the hell he has to do in order to better this. In short, the answer is he probably can’t.
Messi is once in a lifetime, with God given talent, and not only stepped it up individually last season, but managed to win the lot with Barcelona as well.
Neymar
One third of the best attacking trio in the world.
The Brazilian may have been considered a bit of a lightweight by some of his detractors, but after the injury to Messi, he showed tenfold why he is a top, top player.
There are those who think the creative forward will be the best player in the world one day, and at the minute, he’s arguably better than Ronaldo.
Luis Suarez
The best forward in the world? There’s a good argument for it.
In fact, taking 2015 into account, he could well be up there in the final three for the Ballon d’Or, and has been slightly harshly done by.
Barcelona’s front line was already terrifying, but the former Liverpool forward was the missing puzzle in the piece.
Antoine Griezmann
When you play in a league that hosts the best the game has ever seen, it’s easy to be overlooked.
That being said, the Atletico Madrid man is getting an ever growing number of fans, and it’s easy to see why.
Griezy is a top draw player and is something special. In fact, for all the time people spent lauding Hazard, they’d have done better to look at the real star of the wings last season – the Frenchman.
David De Gea
The man Real Madrid wanted in the summer.
De Gea is one of the best keepers in the world, and while Manuel Neuer might enjoy running out his box and generally bossing things in the Bayernliga, De Gea plays behind a poor defence, and for a side who seem to have forgotten what attacking football is.
He’s kept United in games, and once Real Madrid get their fax machine working, will probably get his big move to La Liga.
Robert Lewandowski
Other forwards are good, but can they do it in nine minutes?
Goal scoring hero Lewandowski is one of the best forwards around, and now the infamous Lewandowski and Chill episode against Wolfsburg not only went down in Bayern history, but it also got him into the Guinness Book Of Records as well.
Sensational.
And we all know, this time next year, the list will be topped by Jamie Vardy and Mahrez, who are flying high with table topping Leicester City. Oh, and we can probably find a slot for Mesut Ozil and Olivier Grioud at this rate too.
