September 18, 2018
David Silva – Manchester City and Spain
Manchester City star David Silva is the focus of our Talent Scout post this week. This piece was published in May 2007.
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World Soccer 500 2018
World Soccer 500 2018 Edition – Who Made It Into Our List?
Another year, another World Soccer 500. As with previous years, it is not intended to be a list of the “best” 500 players in the world.
How We Compiled the List
It’s impossible to compare players from different leagues and continents; any list is inevitably subjective. We have endeavoured to compile
a list of the world’s most talked-about players – the most newsworthy who, by definition, are the most important.
As with previous years, we began by drawing up a list of the key players by league – starting with 60 each for the leading leagues in Europe (England, Germany, Spain), 50 for France and Italy, between 15 and 25 for middle-ranking leagues, and ending with between five and 10 for smaller leagues.
We tried to include players who fell into five different categories:
1 In-form players who have starred in their respective domestic league during the current 2017-18 season.
2 The young talents who have earned rave reviews in the past year.
3 The internationals who will be key figures for their respective national sides at the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
4 Players who are likely to be key figures in the summer transfer market.
5 Those who have made the headlines off the pitch.
Reaching the final list was not easy. There are many players who missed the final cut but who came very close.
A new element this year is the inclusion of players who could make an impact at this summer’s World Cup. So there are more players from likes of Morocco, Senegal and Serbia, and one from Panama, as well as fewer players from countries such as USA and Holland, who missed out on the finals.
This is not intended to be the definitive list – merely one to provoke debate and discussion.
Also check out our coverage of the 2018 World Cup where we have done team guides, and pages for friendlies, fixtures, TV Schedule and a Stadium Guide.
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September 18, 2018
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City and Belgium
We wrote about the future Manchester City star way back in 2010, before he was one of the best in the world.
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September 18, 2018
Radamel Falcao – Monaco and Colombia
Apart from stints at Manchester United and Chelsea, Falcao has scored everywhere. We wrote about him in January 2007.
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September 18, 2018
Eden Hazard – Chelsea and Belgium
Published in the World Soccer Summer 2009 issue, our Talent Scout picked Eden Hazard to be a future star.
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September 18, 2018
Romelu Lukaku – Manchester United and Belgium
See what we wrote about the Belgian big man in this Talent Scout post from October 2009.
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September 18, 2018
Ivan Rakitic – Barcelona and Croatia
We picked the Barcelona man to become a star back in November 2007. Check out that piece here.
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September 18, 2018
Virgil Van Dijk – Liverpool and The Netherlands
Liverpool bought Van Dijk for an astounding £75 million pounds. He has come a long way since we wrote about him in 2015.
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September 18, 2018
Christian Eriksen – Tottenham and Denmark
The Tottenham playmaker was a Danish star in the making back in May 2010. Check out what we wrote here.
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September 18, 2018
Alvaro Morata – Chelsea and Spain
The big man has played for some of the finest teams in Europe, and we wrote about him in our August 2013 issue.
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September 18, 2018
Julian Draxler – PSG and Germany
In our September 2011 issue we featured Draxler in our Talent Scout section. Check that out here.
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September 18, 2018
Alexis Sanchez – Manchester United and Chile
The small Chilean became a star at Arsenal, but check out our Talent Scout report back in 2007.
