No player on the planet has had a better 2018 than Real Madrid's No.5

Christmas is getting closer, so Squawka’s advent calendar takes another step towards completion.

With midweek Premier League games and the winter ball, things are really getting into the holiday spirit as the festive season approaches. So we thought we’d have a little fun and do our own advent calendar by each day comparing players based on shirt numbers.

Whilst overall quality was obviously considered when ranking our top three players of the year, the deciding factors were obviously how well they performed during the year, with notable weighting being given to the World Cup.

No. 1: Marc-André Ter Stegen
No. 2: Kyle Walker
No. 3: Giorgio Chiellini
No. 4: Virgil Van Dijk

There’s been lots of talent to choose from, but here are Squawka’s three best no. 5s in the world this year:

3. Miralem Pjanic (Juventus/Bosnia)

What makes him special? The magnificent metronome of Italian football, Miralem Pjanic has been running the Juventus midfield pretty much since he got there. Took up Andrea Pirlo’s mantle and improved on the Italian’s performances. He missed the World Cup but he helped Juve power their way to an impressive domestic double (and his third consecutive spot in Serie A’s team of the season).

Key stat: No central midfielder has created more chances than Miralem Pjanic (37) in Serie A so far this season.

2. Sergio Busquets (Barcelona/Spain)

What makes him special? The world’s best defensive midfielder had a down year where he was merely relentlessly genius. Kept the Barcelona midfield ticking over as the Blaugrana won La Liga and the Copa del Rey despite enormous personnel issues in their squad. Disappointed at the World Cup but has rebounded brilliantly at the start of this season, putting in several world-class displays, notably in the Champions League.

Key stat: No Barcelona midfielder had fewer unsuccessful touches in 2017/18 than Sergio Busquets (18).

1. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid/France)

What makes him special? Up to August, no player on the planet had a better year than Raphael Varane. Not only was the Frenchman the most consistent player for Real Madrid as they won a third straight Champions League, but he was then part of the defensive core that saw France win just their second-ever World Cup.

He’s struggled to recover from that high, having been poor this season where he is usually a spectacular defender. But he was so good last season and in Russia too, winning the two biggest trophies a player can win in the span of a couple of months, that it would be absurd to deny him this top spot. The best no. 5 in the world in 2018, without a doubt.

Key stat: No player made more clearances during the 2018 World Cup than Raphael Varane (44).

Honourable mentions:

John Stones (Manchester City/England), Jorginho (Chelsea/Italy), Jan Vertonghen (Spurs/Belgium), Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool/Netherlands), Allan (Napoli/Brazil), Marquinhos (PSG/Brazil), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich/Germany)

The post Squawka’s Xmas advent squad: who’s the best No.5 in Europe? appeared first on Squawka News.

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