It is always interesting to discuss who are the best players in the world, and although everyone has a different idea of who deserves to be in the top ten, it is still a fun exercise to share each other's personal choices regarding the matter.

Between the 2017/18 season to the 2018/19 season, this list would've been dominated by Real Madrid players. With Cristiano Ronaldo, Modric, Ramos, Kroos, and Marcelo all arguably being within the top 10, during this 3 season period.

However, since the departure of Ronaldo , this hasn't been the case at all, and with the swift demise of Real Madrid's dominance, the balance of powers have equalised again.

This article will look at the 10 players who are arguably the best in the world and discuss why each player deserves their place on this list.

There will obviously be some players in this list who will come as no surprise, but there are others, who just last season, would not have made the list and now do.

10. Eden Hazard

Strangely, the most difficult choice for this list was deciding who should go in 10th place, however, Eden Hazard makes the cut.

Although Chelsea have struggled to find the form that won them the title a couple of seasons ago, the root causes of that are deeper than any one player.

2018/19 will be a forgettable season for Chelsea, but for Hazard, it'll be a memorable one with the Belgian having performed excellently this season, even with the backdrop of drama.

With 16 goals and 11 assists to his name, Hazard has shown why he is hotly desired by Real Madrid for next season.

A disappointing season for the Belgian's club, yes, however, his talent and influence on the game remains undeniable.

9 Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero's talent is undeniable and has been one of the best players in the Premier League over the last decade.

Despite being such a phenomenal talent, consistent injury has always diminished Aguero's chances of reaching seasonal numbers near that of other top forwards like Suarez, Kane, and Lewandowski.

However, this season Aguero has once again shown why he is one of the best strikers in the world having netted 18 goals and 5 assist in the Premier league in 26 appearances and also an impressive 5 goals in as many games in the Champions League.

Amazingly Aguero has only ever won the Premier League Golden Boot once in his career, but this is, as aforementioned, largely due to injuries, this season however the Argentine could add to this tally.

8[b] Alisson Becker[/b]
Alisson has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world

During the better part of the last decade, there was only one candidate for the world's best goalkeeper, and that was Manuel Neuer.

The German and Bayern legend redefined the role sweeper keeper and arguably re-popularised goalkeeping again, in an age where football has become so attacking-centric.

However, due to injury and perhaps age, Manuel Neuer hasn't been the goalkeeper he once was, and despite showing why he is one of the best goalkeepers ever, in terms of form he has been overtaken this year.

This season, to the surprise of some, however, Liverpool's goalkeeper Alisson Becker has been arguably the best goalkeeper in the world.

The stats don't lie and with 32 games having been played in the Premier League, 17 of those matches have ended in clean sheets for the goalkeeper.

Although the praise nowadays is largely, and perhaps unfairly, directed almost exclusively to attacking players, Alisson has been as important for Liverpool as any of their players.

7[b] Virgil Van Dijk[/b]
Van Dijk is the most expensive defender in football history.

Like Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk joined Liverpool during the 2017-18 season which saw them reach the Champions League final.

Even more impressively the Dutch defender joined the Merseyside club in the January transfer for a world record fee (for a defender) of £75 million.

What's also impressive is how well and seamlessly Van Dijk has fit into the Liverpool side, not only establishing himself in the squad but also as arguably the best centre back in the Premier League.

From the start of the 2017/18 season and all the way to February of this year, remarkably, Van Dijk had not been dribbled past by any player in both the League and in the Champions League! *1

Furthermore, as stated with Alisson Becker, Liverpool have earned 17 clean sheets in the 31 matches they've played in the league.

Whilst this is a statistic usually implemented to praise and criticise a goalkeeper, it can also be used, in this instance, as evidence as to how solid Van Dijk has been for his club.

Typically over the last few years, Sergio Ramos has been the standout defender in world football, however, that can't be said of him this season.

As aforementioned, Van Dijk is the best defender in the Premier League, and maybe even the world as of right now.

6 [b]Luis Suarez[/b]
Suarez has rediscovered his form after a couple of
below par
seasons for Barcelona (for his standards at least!)

Undoubtedly one of the most controversial footballers in the world, but also one of the most brilliant.

Since his Liverpool days Luis Suarez has been one of the best players in the world, with his 2015/16 season in particular being his best.

Since that season though, the Uruguayan striker has struggled to reach those heights again, having fallen short in the last two seasons.

Nevertheless, in the league at least Suarez has rediscovered a lot of that form and sits as second top goal scorer in the league, behind team mate Lionel Messi.

He may be getting on a bit, and he may not be as good as he was a few seasons ago, he is still arguably one of the best pure strikers in the world today.

And therefore deserves a place on this list, and like with Mohamed Salah, if Suarez manages to light up the Champions League and help Barcelona win the title, then perhaps he deserves to be raised.

For now however, 7th place is what he will have to settle for.

5 [b]Neymar[/b]
Despite being blighted with injury this season, Neymar has still shown why he is one of the best players in the world

Neymar's season has been blighted by injury with the Brazilian superstar, unfortunately, missing the Champions League tie against Manchester United.

This famously ended with a last-minute penalty scored by Marcus Rashford to ecstatically send Manchester United through to the quarterfinals.

Whilst this has essentially ended Neymar's season, given that the league has been all but won, the Copa America is lurking around the corner for the Brazilian.

Despite being injured for a large number of weeks this season, when Neymar has been playing football, he has shown why many believe him to be the successor to Messi and Ronaldo.

Although he still isn't there yet, and although he has been injured this season, the level that he has been playing at throughout the first half of the season, shows that the world-class talent deserves to be on this list.

In addition, if he hadn't been injured it may have been likely that he would be higher on the list, but that's life, I am afraid.

4 Raheem Sterling
For Club and Country, Raheem Sterling has been sensational this season.

Raheem Sterling has been one of the most talked about players this season for reasons about football and also for other reasons too.

However, without going into detail about the latter, Sterling has shown an incredible level of maturity to his play this season.

With 15 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League this season, Raheem Sterling has been arguably the league's best player.

Furthermore, Raheem Sterling has also been able to emulate this form on the international stage as well.

With the England international scoring a memorable hat trick against the Czech Republic in a European Qualifier match.

Like with Kevin De Bruyne, Sterling still has a lot to play for this season, and a famous double is still possible.
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