Lionel Messi's Brain, Cristiano Ronaldo's Heading And Erling Haaland's Strength Make Up The 'Ultimate Fantasy Footballer'

ESPN have created the ultimate fantasy footballer by taking different abilities from some of the world's best players.

Writer Mark Ogden set out to produce the perfect attacking player, focusing on key areas such as mind, movement, heading, right foot, left foot, pace and strength.

The brain of six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi was the first attribute selected and understandably so. With his unrivalled vision and awareness, the Argentine genius is in a league of his own and it feels as though his level of thinking on a football pitch is above everyone else's.

Image: PA

To many's surprise, however, it's the left foot of Liverpool's Mo Salah that gets the nod ahead of Messi and Gareth Bale. The feeling was that Salah is able to best combine power and precision on his trademark strikes, ultimately giving him the edge.

Compared to David Beckham for his outrageous deliveries into the box, Kevin De Bruyne claimed the right foot trophy, while Cristiano Ronaldo was surely the only logical choice for heading given his ridiculous aerial prowess.

Image: PA

The freakish strength of Erling Haaland and clever movement of Robert Lewandowski would create a truly unstoppable Bundesliga striker and then you have the lighting quick pace that Kylian Mbappe brings to the table, basically ending any chance of any defender being able to cope.

Image: PA

Fans will have their own way of assembling a complete attacking footballer but it's hard to have too many issues with the strong selections here.

Fantasy footballer:

Mind: Lionel Messi

Heading: Cristiano Ronaldo

Left-foot: Mo Salah

Right-foot: Kevin De Bruyne

Pace: Kylian Mbappe

Strength: Erling Haaland

Movement: Robert Lewandowski

Topics: Football, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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