Who'll go down as the 3rd best player in Mbappé-Haaland era?

Mbappé & Haaland are top 3 players in the world alongside with a 35-year-old Messi now.

Although Messi is the best player in the world and likely to win his 8th Ballon d'Or, he'll slow down soon whereas Mbappé & Haaland will continue to be undisputed top 2 players in the world for the next 10-15 years bar career-ending injury. Both will be multi-time winner of Ballon d'Ors and other individual accolades.

But what about the 3rd? There's a lot of contenders from Mbappé-Haaland's generation. Some few examples.

- Bellingham
- Pedri
- Bukayo Saka
- Tchouameni
- Vinicius Jr
- Musiala

Musiala has the most raw talent and potential imo. But it will definitely interesting to see if someone seriously emerges and challenges those two for Ballon D'ors.

Cody Gakpo

Either Vinicius or Bellingham, I imagine. I'm also excited to see how Rodrygo Goes develops. He hasn't had that burst into the spotlight that Vinicius has had in recent years, but he might turn out to be more of a late bloomer, which seems to be quite common in players with a more mature and calculated approach to the game.

Vinicius or Musiala imo

I hope not Musiala, that would depress the hellva out of me.

Blue wrote:I hope not Musiala, that would depress the hellva out of me.

context?

Was impressed with gakpo and musiala. Musiala and his dribbling made me feel like awe. The guy is too raw. He will surely learn to make those dribbling more effective in terms of end productive. He may have a great future ahead. V. Junior is clearly the frontrunner out of the mentioned names.

Rafael Leao

Some interesting stuff in this radar map of some of the midfielders:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/zwhxfm/radar_charts_of_some_midfielders_all_stats_are/

I believe it'll be Jude. His ceiling just seems endless to me.

El Gunner wrote:

Blue wrote:I hope not Musiala, that would depress the hellva out of me.

context?

Chelsea product, was at Chelsea since he was 8 years old, signed with Bayern a couple years ago.

I believe in Alphonso Davies

Mohamed Kudus

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/23/ghanas-mohammed-kudus-neymar-is-not-better-than-me-hes-just-a-higher-profile-player

Actually there's no guarantee these two will be the top wo.

I can see the likes of Vini and Musiala having more CLs/Balon D Ors than them.

M99 wrote:Actually there's no guarantee these two will be the top wo.

I can see the likes of Vini and Musiala having more CLs/Balon D Ors than them.

Mbappe & Haaland are astronomically clear in their generation, just like it was the case for Messi & Cristiano.

I'd even suggest that Mbappe and even Haaland (mainly thanks to his unprecedented goalscoring stats) have already established themselves as one of the best players ever in their respective position before turning 25. Just like it was he case for Messi and R9. You cannot say the same for the likes of Vini & Musiala, although they may become all-time greats by the end of their career

Mbappe is the real deal, but Haaland without service often goes missing from matches. He's not a guaranteed top 2 best player of this era yet.

I'm not going to argue against your last claim because you may be right for all I know. Personally, I think it's quite silly to predict future top anything when the most notable contenders for the future top whatever title have a decade left of their respective careers. Either way, I can't help but wonder if you speak from little experience when you say he often goes missing without service. I have noticed the same thing lately, but I don't think a lack of service was something that held him back to this extent at Dortmund, so I can only assume it's related to his instructions at City. It's not like he's not capable of challenging players on his own, but clearly he's not a winger.

My observation is solely related to his City matches, it could very well be it was different for Dortmund.

I dont think a player who is not outstanding hits Haaland numbers and for more than one team to boot. He aint afraid of the big game either. I agree with the service statement tho but I dont think it's enough to deter his ability.

Haaland is THAT GUY. He's not as complete as Mbappe, but there's a chance his club CV will look better when its said and done.

Reece James, if he can stay healthy.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Mbappe is the real deal, but Haaland without service often goes missing from matches. He's not a guaranteed top 2 best player of this era yet.

The guy scores almost as many goals as games he plays for all of City, Dortmund, and even Norway. Different levels of service and he still gets crazy numbers.

Clear of anyone but Mbappe in this generation.