'World Class Players'

[annapr]

Jesus,  while we all have different interpretations of world class, 100 players is a bit too broad, and will always require filling up with like Schweiny who was but no longer is, or Martial who isn't but should become, or Coutinho who has the tools but nowhere near the consistency. Consistency really should be the key difference between top players and worldies. The latter does it nearly every week.

My own narrow variation of world class is based in whether Madrid or Barcelona would flex their muscles to get him. This can lead to short lists though as most of the genuine world class players are already at those clubs. So I've got a wider, more morbid criteria which says that if the Madrid bus was to smash into the Barca bus and put them all out of the game for good, then who would those clubs smash records and pull tricks to rebuild their teams around.

In  England:

Ozil, De Gea, Aguero - definitely.

De Bruyne, Kompany, Zabaleta, Silva, Lloris, Kane, Courtois, Fabregas, Willian, Hazard, Costa, Sanchez, Cech, Lukaku, Sturridge - probably.

Shaw, Alderwereld, Alli, Eriksen, Stones, Barkley, Mahrez, Kolorov, Martial, Mata, Koscielny, Coquelin, Ramsey, Giroud, Azpic, Matic, Payet - maybe.

Age would count against a few others. Form of Liverpool and Man Utd a big factor too.

Definitely not vintage times for the EPL in terms of quality. But at least it's exciting.

Can I have some of what you're smoking please 
Luke Shaw world class...?! Some of the others are just as strange.