Manchester rivals City and United both have five of their men in FourFourTwo’s Best 100 Players in the World 2016 – more than any other Premier League club.
But that figure is down on last year for the pair – Man City owned eight players on the 2015 list compared to United’s 6 – following a disappointing league campaign in which Manuel Pellegrini's side pipped Louis van Gaal's United to fourth place and the final Champions League qualification spot on goal difference alone.
Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero lead the way as they only English-based players to feature in the top 10, with United’s summer signings Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both included among the top 20.
David de Gea is ranked the second-best goalkeeper in the world behind Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer, while Raheem Sterling is the leading English player on the list, although he as slipped to number 57.
Chelsea’s poor defence of their Premier League title means they’re left with just four players in this year’s Top 100, allowing Atletico Madrid to leap above the English contingent with six representatives.
But the Rojiblancos’ half-dozen is still nine behind record-breakers Bayern Munich, whose 15 players in this latest edition of the FFT100 is more than any club has ever managed in 10 lists since it began in 2007.
Real Madrid (11 players) and Barcelona (9) ensure the top three clubs are unchanged from 12 months ago, with Champions League-winners Real owning top dog Cristiano Ronaldo and sixth-placed Gareth Bale, while Barça's ‘MSN’ trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all feature in the top five.
And Juventus may have lost Pogba to United during the summer, but they still increase their tally of FFT100 entries from seven to eight.
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FOURFOURTWO’S BEST 100 FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN THE WORLD 2016
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
