Liverpool are building another fantastic team on the back of romping to Premier League title success.
The Reds have assembled some brilliant players over the past few years to propel them to the top of the English game once again.
This summer, they are expected to add to that even further. A move to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen is nearing completion, while Jeremie Frimpong has already arrived.
There will be further additions, too, while a handful of Liverpool players will also leave.
With such a turnover in the Liverpool squad, it will be fascinating to see whether Arne Slot can lead his team to another trophy-winning campaign.
Nevertheless, whatever changes occur, the Reds have some of the very best players in the world to help them go again. In fact, according to a new list published by ESPN, Slot actually has 10, soon to be 11, of the greatest stars on the planet.
Photo by ANP via Getty Images
Photo by ANP via Getty Images
Liverpool 10 earn top 100 spots
Liverpool blew the competition away in the Premier League last season to reinforce the status of their players as some of the best in the game.
Mohamed Salah had one of the greatest individual campaigns in English football history and it’s no surprise to see the Egyptian feature heavily in ESPN’s list.
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Instead of simply listing the players from 100 to one, though, the outlet instead break their ranking down into positional categories, rating each position’s top 10,15 or 20 players to equal 100 in total.
Impressively, Salah comes in at number one in the winger’s category, beating the likes of Lamine Yamal (2nd), Ousmane Dembele (5th) and even Lionel Messi (8th). Liverpool teammates Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo feature here too, landing in 12th and 17th respectively.
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Another of Liverpool’s real figureheads, it is no surprise to see Virgil van Dijk take top spot in the centre-backs category, with Reds partner Ibrahima Konate sneaking into 8th spot.
In terms of full-backs, the now departed Trent Alexander-Arnold may be second in the list, but Frimpong is not too far behind him in eighth.
Alisson Becker is ranked as the second best goalkeeper behind Thibaut Courtois, while Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister are named as the ninth and fourth best defensive/central midfielders.
Finally, Dominik Szoboszlai makes it into the attacking midfielders category, finishing in seventh place, with the incoming Wirtz behind only Jude Bellingham in first.
Who else topped the lists?
Although some may have been unlucky to miss out, these 10 are probably Liverpool’s best players right now. To have virtually a full starting XI named is no mean feat.
Player Category Ranking
Alisson Becker Goalkeeper 2.
Jeremie Frimpong Full-back 9.
Virgil van Dijk Centre-back 1.
Ibrahima Konate Centre-back 8.
Ryan Gravenberch Defensive/central midfielder 9.
Alexis Mac Allister Defensive/central midfielder 4.
Dominik Szoboszlai Attacking midfielder 7.
Cody Gakpo Winger 17.
Luis Diaz Winger 12.
Mohamed Salah Winger 1.
With Salah and Van Dijk still right at the top of their games, it is nice to see them given recognition as the best in their respective fields.
We’d argue that Alisson should be top of the goalkeeping department, too, but Courtois is an excellent keeper as well.
Wirtz losing out to Bellingham is also fair for the time being, while Mac Allister and Gravenberch sit behind Barcelona’s Pedri who is named as the best deep midfielder.
Achraf Hakimi is selected as the best full-back on the planet, while the only category Liverpool do not have representation in is centre-forward, where Kylian Mbappe is picked as number one.