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Opinion

The Worst World Class Player: Heat One

By Eion SmithPosted on Posted in Opinion

Inspired by the 5 Live World Football Phone-In and a comment Tim Vickery made, I’m running this week long series to figure out just who is the worst world class player in the game today. It’s a bit of an odd question as we look to find the worst of the best. Tim said Carlos Tevez but I disagreed and polled others in the FMG family on who are the world class players today.

We got to a list of 66 which we then whittled down to the worst 16 who you, the fine readers of BFTGT, will vote for on Twitter each day this week. There will be four heats with the top two progressing to the semis then the top two from each semi to the final vote with the winner announced Monday 29 January.

Simple enough? Good. Let’s see who is in the first vote:

Adrien Rabiot (PSG/France)

Oh boy, I can hear the keyboards typing angrily already.

Suggested by Arsenal Insider’s Matthew Freedman, it’s actually not a bad call. Rabiot has been sporadically featuring for PSG over the last couple of years but the departure of Blaise Matuidi has allowed him to take on a greater role in the expensively assembled dream team and he’s thriving on it.

Detractors will say he’s barely proven anything in his short career and that playing for PSG is hardly a challenge hence why he makes it into this heat.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund/Gabon)

A man in the gossip columns, Auba is flirting with China and the Premier League right now with Dortmund seemingly sick of his ill discipline.

His goal record is not to be sniffed at though with 20 a season easily beaten for the last couple of years. It’s surprising then that there hasn’t been more interest or clamour for his services from other clubs. Discipline could be an issue as could  the fact that Aubameyang is not an all-round player. He’s a predator, a quick and lethal finisher. You won’t find him doing too much in the build up but he’ll grab goals.

Will that count against him in this vote though?

Samir Handanovic (Inter/Slovenia)

Handanovic is a world class goalkeeper, of that there is no doubt. Is he the best goalkeeper in the world? Probably not unless you’re an Inter fan.

He’s a solid keeper who makes fantastic saves and very rarely flubs his lines but is that enough to keep you from voting for him as the worst world-class player? Or does the fact he flies under the radar in the grand scheme of things give him an edge in this vote?

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea/Spain)

Wildly successful, gloriously talented but for whatever reason Cesc Fabregas has always been the bridesmaid but never the bride since he left Arsenal. Nobody is going to build their team around Fabregas. At Barcelona, he became the utility man and at Chelsea, the bit-part man.

Fabregas possesses a wonderful range of passing but not the best range. He has sublime technique but not the best technique. He’s a brilliant Spanish midfielder but not the best Spanish midfielder. Will that count against him in this vote?

To vote, simply choose your option from the tweet below. RT it and tell us if you agree with the players involved in this heat and stay tuned tomorrow for the next heat.

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