Best big-5 league players of the season

Issue number 188 of the Weekly Post presents the best players of the 2016/17 big-5 league season. The rankings were elaborated according to the exclusive CIES Football Observatory’s approach to measure player performance on an objective and comparable basis.

Lionel"> outranks Cristiano Ronaldo in the table for wingers.

Three Bayern Munich players top the rankings in their respective position:

Manuel"> for goalkeepers, Javi Martínez for centre backs (ahead of teammate

Mats">), as well as

0cDovL3d3dy5mb290YmFsbC1vYnNlcnZhdG9yeS5jb20vLVJhdGluZ3MtZW5nLT9jb2RlPTE3MjA4>Thiago Alcântara for central defensive midfielders. Only footballers who have played at least 2,000 minutes in domestic league games are included in the analysis.

 

Alex"> and

2RlPTQxNTg>Marcelo (full backs), GluZ3MtZW5nLT9jb2RlPTIxMDg3>

Kevin"> (central attacking midfielders), Lionel Messi (wingers) and

Dries"> (centre forwards) head the rankings for the other positions considered. Except for de Bruyne and Marcelo, all these players are also to be found in the CIES Football Observatory’s 4-3-3 best XI of the season alongside

5jb20vLVJhdGluZ3MtZW5nLT9jb2RlPTc1OTQ5>Bruno Peres (right full back),

Paul"> and

C1vYnNlcnZhdG9yeS5jb20vLVJhdGluZ3MtZW5nLT9jb2RlPTc3MzEx>Naby Keita (box-to-box midfielders), as well as Cristiano Ronaldo (left winger).

Follow us on Twitter to find out the best XI for each of the big-5 leagues.