Sportskeeda's list of 50 Best players playing currently: 50 – 41
To break into the upper echelons of football royalty, one must blend passion with temperament, focus with desire and, ultimately, must maintain top form throughout the most of their career. New talents are being scouted as we speak and it can, therefore, be challenging to take a snapshot of the football landscape as it is now… but that’s exactly what I have done.
In a, frankly, subjective piece, which it is impossible to gain unanimous agreement with, I have sprinkled my search for the greatest fifty players in the world with a pinch of objectivity by using weighted averages to determine who comes out on top.
Each player was allocated a score out of 100 for their ‘Overall Ability’ (technique, goal-scoring records / defensive records), their ‘Success’ (team and individual trophies won during their career, relative to their age and time in the game) and their ‘Recent Form’ (how they’ve performed throughout this calendar year, injuries, etc. have been taken into account).
The former was attributed with a weighting of 40%, the most important aspect to consider, while the other two categories were each given a 30% weighting. An average was then taken, and other factors such as potential and importance to their team were taken into account. So if you have any serious qualms with the choices made, remember that statistics have been used to back-up the views in this article.
With too much eye-watering detail to cram into a single piece, this is a ‘Sportskeeda Series', beginning with the individuals placed from 50-41.
#50 Alexandre Lacazette
The subject of interest for the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United in recent years is Lyon’s clinical frontman who rarely has a barren spell in front of goal. Since debuting for Les Gones, Lacazette has bagged more than 60 goals in Ligue 1, including 27 in the 2014/15 season, in which he was the division’s top goal scorer ahead of Cavani and Ibrahimovic.
For one so young, the 25-year-old has his feet firmly on the ground, recently claiming, ‘I can’t think that I will score more goals than Zlatan, but I want to try and reduce the gap’. The Frenchman has certainly done just that, utilising electric pace, an excellent eye for goal and a good level of physicality to torture defences in the French top flight and beyond.
His one pitfall is a somewhat tainted temperament in-game; Lacazette’s disciplinary record in the 2012/13 season was particularly poor, as he picked up eight yellow cards and, within just four matches, two yellow cards. This is particularly disappointing for a forward player.
Lacazette could be deemed an early peaker given his excellent form from a young age, and it’s been his ability to maintain his goal-scoring heroics season-after-season which earns him a place on the list. That said, he needs to showcase his talent in at least one other league to propel himself up this list.