10 world class talents who have raised their level this season

The footballing universe has absolutely no shortage of talented players. Marauding midfield generals, ravishingly skillful wingers, attacking midfielders with impeccable vision and decision-making - wherever you look, there's a spectacularly gifted player strutting his stuff.Every position in football has a plethora of talented players who always seem to be on the verge of breaking out into the limelight with a string of strong performances. But many of them fail to take the next step, because talent isn't everything in football. To be counted among the best in the business, it is imperative for a player to be strong in every aspect of his game and to keep reducing his weaknesses. In modern-day football, where every movement and action of players are is being digitally tracked because of their importance to improving performance, players cannot simply let their weaknesses slide.A player needs to be able to blur out his weak spots to be considered elite. This season, we have witnessed strong performances from a number of players who have always been considered humongous talents, but who've had something missing in their games, or some constraint tying them down to lower levels of achievement than they were always known to be capable of.Here are 10 such players who've developed well-rounded games and are attaining elite levels of footballing excellence.

#1 Neymar

In Neymar’s case, the statistics speak for themselves, and they tell us just how much the mesmerizing Brazilian has progressed in the last year and a half. According to WhoScored, he already has 33 goals this season in various fixtures spread across the La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey, which is more than twice the total of 15 he managed during the 2013-14 season.

Ranking fourth on the European Golden Shoe standings behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, Neymar looks to finally have found his spot in the Barcelona set-up.

Much of the credit for his improved results has to be given to the manner in which Luis Enrique has entrusted more responsibility to his three forwards upfront. The ball rests much more frequently at the feet of Barcelona’s record-breaking trio, who have already reached a century of goals together this season.

That allows them much more freedom to express themselves and beat defences than they had last season under Tata Martino. 

Neymar began the season on a hot streak as Messi initially had a subdued season on the goals-coring front. Ever since Luis Suarez’s and Messi’s return to top form, the responsibility on Neymar's shoulders has been lowered. Even so, he has continued to find the back of the net with regularity over the course of the entire season, barring a few short barren spells.