Everyone loves a good goal scorer, and we are all lucky enough to live in a time where Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo knock them in for fun, yet the importance of the players behind them, the midfielders, is sometimes overlooked.
The likes of Zidane, Ronaldinho, and Matthäus are regarded as some of the greatest midfielders to ever grace the position, and that's to name just but a few.
Yet the debate on who are the best modern midfielders of today's game are has been narrowed down by FourFourTwo, as they have ranked their top 10 central midfielders.
10. Thiago Alcântara (Bayern Munich and Spain)
9. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City and Portugal)
8. Paul Pogba (Manchester United and France)
7. Sergio Busquets (Barcelona and Spain)
6. Miralem Pjanić (Juventus and Bosnia)
5. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)
4. David Silva (Manchester City and Spain)
3. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid and Germany)
2. N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea and France)
1. Luka Modrić (Real Madrid and Croatia)
Luka Modrić became the first player to win the Ballon d'Or that was not Messi or Ronaldo since 2007, when fellow midfielder Kaka took home the prize.
Leading Croatia to a World Cup final and a third successive Champions League win with Real Madrid earnt the midfield maestro the award, possibly highlighting a change in the prominence of midfielders.
The change to honour a more collective effort of a role within a team rather than outright goalscoring ability means that midfielders now have a greater chance of winning, though that is not to say they are the outright best player in the game.
English clubs are well represented on the list too, taking up five places, with Manchester City's incredibly talented midfield making the list three times.
Controversially Toni Kroos is third following a pretty poor campaign in Madrid and Busquets is seventh despite being on top of his game for years.
Are there any glaring omissions from this list? There's no sight of Isco, Rakitić, Rodríguez, Eriksen or Matuidi, do you think they have done enough to make the top 10?
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Words by George Buksmann
Topics: Paul Pogba, Football News, German Football, Serie A, Ligue 1, French football, Italian Football, Premier League, Spanish football, La Liga, Bundesliga, Luka Modric