Select the *20th* best soccer 'prospect'! (playing in Europe)

-- HF SOCCER PROSPECTS OVERALL RANKING --
#1) Lionel Messi- striker, Argentina, Barcelona- 24/6/87 (22 votes out of 41 -> 53.66%)
#2) Cesc Fabregas- midfielder, Spain, Arsenal- 4/5/87 (22 votes out of 40 -> 55% )
#3) Cristiano Ronaldo - off.midifleder, Portugal, Manchester Utd- 5/2/85 (19 out of 26 votes -> 73.08%)
#4) Karim Benzema- striker, France, Lyon- 19/12/87 (11 out of 34 -> 32.35%)
#5) Bojan Krkic- striker, Spain, Barcelona- 28/8/90 (8 out of 30 -> 26.67%)
#6) Sergio Ramos- defender, Spain, Real Madrid- 30/3/86 (10 out of 26 -> 38.46%)
#7) Alexandre Pato- striker, Brazil, Milan- 2/9/89 (11 out of 27 -> 40.74%)
#8) Wayne Rooney- striker, England, Manchester Utd- 24/10/85 (11 out of 19 -> 57.9%)
#9) Sergio Aguero- striker, Argentina, Athl.Madrid- 2/6/88 (12 out of 23 -> 52.17%)
#10) Diego Ribas- off.midfielder, Brazil, Werder Bremen- 28/2/85 (8 out of 28 -> 28.57%)
#11) Hatem Ben Arfa - off.midfielder, France, Lyon- 7/3/87 (8 out of 27 -> 29.63%)
#12) Abreu Anderson- off.midfielder, Brazil, Manchester Utd- 13/4/88 (7 out of 24 -> 29.17%)
#13) Samir Nasri- off.midfielder, France, Marseille- 26/6/87 (9 out of 23 -> 39.13%)
#14) Giovani Dos Santos- striker/off.midfielder, Mexico, Barcelona- 11/5/89 (7 out of 25 -> 28%)
#15) John Obi Mikel- midfielder, Nigeria, Chelsea- 22/4/87 (7 out of 26 -> 26.92%)
#16) David Silva - offensive midfielder, Spain, Valencia- 8/1/86 (4 out of 20, tie-breaker)
#17) Toni Kroos- midfielder, Germany, Bayern Munchen- 4/1/90 (5 out of 21, tie breaker)
#18) Micah Richards- defender, England, Manchester City- 24/6/88 (8 out of 29 -> 27.59%)
#19) Ryan Babel- striker, Holland, Liverpool- 19/12/86
#20) ?

I added Bendtner to the poll.

Here comes the alphabetical list of the players inserted in the poll for the 2nd overall position (again, the max number of options available in polls is 15, if the guy you would pick is not available in this poll, just click on the ‘others’ option and specify inside this thread the name of the player you rather choose) :

Gai Assulin- off.midfielder, Israel, Barcelona- 9/4/91
Nicklas Bendtner- striker, Denmark, Arsenal- 16/1/88
Gael Clichy- leftback, France, Arsenal- 26/6/85
Denilson Neves- midfielder, Brazil, Arsenal- 16/2/88
Ezequiel Garay- central defender, Argentina, Racing Santander- 10/10/86
Eden Hazard- off.midfielder, Belgium, Lille- 7/1/91
Vincent Kompany- defender/midfileder, Belgium, Hamburg- 10/4/86
Hugo Lloris- keeper, France, Nice- 26/12/86
Lucas Leiva- midfielder, Brazil, Liverpool- 9/1/87
Aiden McGeady- winger, Ireland, Celtic- 4/4/86
Jeremie Menez- striker, France, Monaco- 7/5/87
Nani- off.midfielder, Portugal, Manchester Utd- 17/11/86
Lucas Podolski - striker, Germany, Bayern- 4/6/85
Giuseppe Rossi- striker, Italy, Villareal- 1/2/87


- Here is how it is supposed to work -
Only 'prospects' playing in Europe and born on or after 1985 are eligible.
(ANY player born on or after 1985 is considered a 'prospect' here)
I’m going to make a poll to determine who the best prospect is, then another one to vote for #2, etc.. polls will be closed as soon as the winner of that spot has become obvious and the next one will be started immediately. I would say each poll is not supposed to last more than 2 days (feedback will be a factor as well)
Each poll will have a ‘others’ option, so that who feels like his elected guy is not available can choose it and mention his preferred name in the thread.

After voting you’re expected to mention in this thread the player you’d like to be added for the next poll.

Your pick should be intended as the one you would make if you had to draft all these players (just like an NHL GM) assuming you will be able to use them for the next ten years.
You can/should take everything into consideration:
of course age, position (one position can be more important than another in someone's opinion), potential, present skills, head (brain)...
so the list should not be based (only) on who you think are the best now or just for the next year.

If you are undecided, or you have doubts, specific questions about some players or need update on recent performances, go ahead and ask for ‘em in this thread, hopefully the posters following more closely that particular league will provide an answer.


OK, now discuss and/or make your pick!
(explanations of picks are obviously welcomed).

Add Akinfeev.

Since Urby Emanuelson is not amongst the candidates yet, I had to vote for him in the others category. Naturally that means I'm asking him to be added as well.

Crap. I meant to vote Lloris but slipped and clicked 'other'. Count me for Hugo, helice...

Crap. I meant to vote Lloris but slipped and clicked 'other'. Count me for Hugo, helice...
I changed the votes (Darmouth will appear as in the Other category if you click on the votes, but his vote counted in the Lloris column) .

Yes, for those who wondered, I can change all the votes, but obviously, I didn't change anything in other voting... :D

I changed the votes (Darmouth will appear as in the Other category if you click on the votes, but his vote counted in the Lloris column) .

Yes, for those who wondered, I can change all the votes, but obviously, I didn't change anything in other voting... :D
I voted Lloris.
Add Diarra or Capel.

Yes, for those who wondered, I can change all the votes... :D:eek:

Yes, for those who wondered, I can change all the votes, but obviously, I didn't change anything in other voting... :D

You should close all the previous polls, though. When I looked into them earlier today, not all of them were closed.

You should close all the previous polls, though. When I looked into them earlier today, not all of them were closed.
Which ones are still open?

Not that it matters much though if they're not closed.

Lloris, again.

Add Rene Adler.

Which ones are still open?

Not that it matters much though if they're not closed.

At the time of writing this, 9th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th tie-breaker.

I'd tend to pick Clichy or Podolski here. But I went with Lloris cause noone deserves to be the Susan Lucci of soccer prospects. And I was curious what French prospect Evilio would vote for next :).

if the guy you would pick is not available in this poll, just click on the ‘others’ option and specify inside this thread the name of the player you rather choose) :


ViD, you voted for "others" without specifying who your vote was for. Maybe you have missed this part of the instructions, as you voted similarily in a recent poll (18th) as well.

I want to add one of L. Diarra, N international for France, brilliant midfielder who can play RB with ease (remember the game in Italy where he was huge).

or

Diego Capel, another talented Spain offensive midfielder.

I still have Diaby and Saivet as french players to be added soon.

And I think Menez should be voted here, if Lloris had already been voted in.
I'd take Menez over Babel any day.
As a 16 year old, he refused offers from Arsenal, Juventus and ManU.
As a 17 year old, he was the youngest to sign a pro contract in L1 history. He was the youngest to score a goal in L1 history. He was the youngest to score a hattrick in L1 history.
He's (at 20) the MVP of his team, loaded with underachieving talents (Monaco).
If not for my feeling towards his brains, I would have voted from him at around the 10th place.

BTW, this poll comes at a time where France has an absolute golden generation (87 features Menez, Nasri, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Matuidi, etc....) behind a very good one (86 features Kaboul, Gouffran, Lloris, etc...), so it's logical to find lots of french.
I think we can fairly say never before has France seen so much top-end talents in only 2 generations.

At the time of writing this, 9th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th tie-breaker.

closed.

Add René Adler. He's emerging as one of the best keepers in Germany.

Plus, Lloris again.

p.s. How far are you planning to run this voting process? Top25, Top30, Top50???

p.s. How far are you planning to run this voting process? Top25, Top30, Top50???

I have 292 now on my list (top half of them ranked somewhat so far), so I hope it won't go much further than that :sarcasm:

Anyway, I think we can easily get to 100 players with voters still disagreeing about who deserves to be there and who not. So I hope we'll get into 100, we probably have to speed the process in the later rounds and not wait for over 24 hours per poll unless there's only one vote difference. To get the voting done before season's end.

I have 292 now on my list (top half of them ranked somewhat so far), so I hope it won't go much further than that :sarcasm::biglaugh:
Anyway, I think we can easily get to 100 players with voters still disagreeing about who deserves to be there and who not. So I hope we'll get into 100, we probably have to speed the process in the later rounds and not wait for over 24 hours per poll unless there's only one vote difference. To get the voting done before season's end.:yo:

We should try to publish this and sell it, I don't feel like voting for nothing! :sarcasm:

Obvious outcome it seems.

I'm going to start a new poll in the next hour, Adler will be added unless further advice comes..

Obvious outcome it seems.

I'm going to start a new poll in the next hour, Adler will be added unless further advice comes..

Maybe you should PM ViD about the instructions, the need to specify who his vote is for in the others category. I mean he has voted twice in the same way, it seems obvious he hasn't paid enough attention to instructions...

Maybe you should PM ViD about the instructions, the need to specify who his vote is for in the others category. I mean he has voted twice in the same way, it seems obvious he hasn't paid enough attention to instructions...done.

Question of the thread:

Do you think Clichy has any unexploited offensive upside? and how much has he improved his defending inside the penalty area? ( think about the stupid penalty shot he caused during the CL semifinal against Villareal couple of seasons ago)