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Top 50 players - World Soccer
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When my editor suggested putting together a list of the top 50 players, I greeted it with a healthy dose of apprehension. For journalists, such lists are often a lose-lose proposition, exposing you to ridicule and, occasionally, venom. Then again, they do generate debate and I like open-ended discussions as much as the next guy.

But before we get into it, here are the usual caveats. Making comparisons between different positions on the pitch is extremely difficult. Equally, while I do watch a lot of football (far more than is healthy), I haven?t watched most of these players week in, week out, for all ninety minutes. Then again, nobody has. So what you?re getting is a combination of personal assessment and, perhaps more importantly, the distilled views of people I talk to, from scouts to fellow journalists, from agents to managers, from club officials to, yes, ordinary fans.

I couldn?t even have begun to compile such a list without basic criteria. So here they are: imagine you are the manager of a totally new team. You have a certain budget to spend, but first you get one freebie, one guy to build your team around. You get him only for one season, the 2007-08 campaign, so you want to go for who can do the best job for you here and now, without worrying how good he can be down the line. Who would you choose? Who would your ?ringer? be?

Sadick ADAMS (Gha) - Ashanti - 1/1/90 (70 -8)
Ismael AISSATI (Hol) - PSV Eindhoven- 16/8/88 (147 - 172)
Alexandre PATO (Bra) - Milan - 2/9/89 (136 -10)
ANDERSON (Bra) - Manchester United -13/4/88 (145 -10)
Gareth BALE (Wal) - Tottenham Hotspur - 16/7/89 (135 - 167)
Giovani DOS SANTOS (Mex) - Barcelona - 11/5/89 (144 -10)
Sergio AGUERO (Arg) - Atletico Madrid - 2/6/88 (168 - 182)
Ever BANEGA (Arg) - Boca Juniors - 29/6/88 (133 -10)
Bojan KRKIC (Spa) - Barcelona - 28/8/90 (136 -10)
BRENO (Bra) - Sao Paulo - 13/10/89 (136 -9)
Gerardo BRUNA (Arg) - Liverpool - 29/1/91 (70 -9)
Diego BUONANOTTE (Arg) - River Plate -18/4/88 (119 -9)
Macauley CHRISANTHUS (Nig) - Abuja - 20/8/90 (85 -8)
Angel DI MARIA (Arg) - Benfica - 14/2/88 (132 -9)
Franco DI SANTO (Arg) - Audax Italiano - 7/4/89 (117 -8)
Karim BENZEMA (Fra) - Olyimpique Lyonnais - 17/12/87 (148 - 180)
Dimitriu COPIL (Rom) - Hearts - 14/3/90 (95 -8)
Kermit ERASMUS (RSA) - Sundown United - 8/7/90 ΔΕΝ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ
FABIO (Bra) - Fluminense (joining Manchester United) - 9/7/90 (84 -9)
Fabio COENTRAO (Por) - Benfica - 11/3/88 (118 -8)
Marouane FELLAINI (Bel) - Standard Liege - 22/11/87 (136 - 148)
GUILHERME (Bra) - Cruziero- 22/10/88 (128 -9)
Nour HADHRIA (Tun) - Club Africain - 4/9/90 ΔΕΝ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ
Rabiu IBRAHIM (Nig) - Sporting Lisbon - 15/3/91 (75 -9)
Damian ISMODES (Per) - Sporting Cristal - 10/3/89 (115 -8)
Lorenzo De SILVESTRI (Ita) - Lazio - 23/5/88 (133 - 181)
KERLON (Bra) - Cruzeiro - 27/1/88 (120 -9)
Toni KROOS (Ger) - FC Bayern Munchen - 4/1/90 (120 -10)
LULINHA (Bra) - Corinthians - 10/4/90 (104 -10)
Sapol MANI (Tog) - Maranatha - 5/6/91 ΔΕΝ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ
Juan Manuel MATA (Spa) - Valencia - 28/4/88 (132 -9)
Cristian NAZARITH (Col) - America Cali - 13/8/90 (108 -9)
Aar?n NIGUEZ (Spa) - Valencia - 26/4/89 (102 -10)
Daniel OPARE (Gha) - Ashanti - 18/10/90 (45 -6)
Ransford OSEI (Gha) - Kesseben -5/12/90 (65 -8)
Francisco MERIDA (Spa) - Arsenal - 4/3/90 (100 -9)
Nikolay MIHAYLOV (Bul) - Liverpool - 28/6/88 (105 -7)
Mesut OZIL (Ger) - Schalke 04 - 15/10/88 (140 -8)
RENATO AUGUSTO (Bra) - Flamengo - 8/2/88 (133 - 172)
Micah RICHARDS (Eng) - Manchester City - 24/6/88 (155 - 182)
Andrea RUSSOTTO (Ita) - Treviso - 25/5/88 (98 -9)
Henri SAIVET (Fra) - Bordeaux 26/10/90 (96 -10)
Alexis SANCHEZ (Chi) - Udinese - 19/12/88 (130 -9)
Marek SUCHY (Cze) - Slavia Prague - 28/3/88 (120 -8)
Sergio TEJERA (Spa) - Chelsea - 28/5/90 (80 -8)
Ivan RAKITIC (Cro) - Schalke 04 - 10/3/88 (145 -9)
Abdou Razack TRAORE (but) - Rosenborg - 28/12/88 (107 - 140)
Gregory VAN DER WIEL (Hol) - Ajax - 3/2/88 (115 -8)
Carlos VELA (Mex) - Arsenal - 1/3/89 (120 -10)
Theo WALCOTT (Eng) - Arsenal 16/3/89 (138 -9)

The top four are incredibly tight, but he just edges it for one simple reason: he combines Brazilian flair with European directness like nobody else. He truly is a product of two footballing cultures, a man who has all the virtues and none of the vices of either. Speaking of vices, he really, really doesn?t have any. A committed Christian, he announced proudly that he was a virgin on his wedding night. He likes to parade around in his favourite T-shirt, the one that reads ?I belong to Jesus? (thereby opening a whole can of worms regarding third-party ownership). And that?s another reason he tops the list - with Kaka in your team, odds are, the big fella upstairs will be on your side as well...
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