Manchester United and Spain #1 David de Gea has often been called the world’s greatest goalkeeper. In a little over a month from now he might officially be granted such status. The World Players Union of footballers, FIFPro, will announce the globe’s best XI in London on October 23.
They have already released the 55 players (full list over at this link, United lead the way among EPL sides with five) now under consideration for that team, and these are the individuals who received the most votes out of all the world’s professional players.
Naming of the team will be based upon player performance during the 2016-17 season. So who will make this elite of the elite list? Will David de Gea be there? Well, between now and the 33 days before the world XI is unveiled, we have plenty of time for speculation. NBC Sports posted their prediction this morning, and as you might expect it’s very heavily represented by Real Madrid, the reigning two time champions of Europe.
Los Blancos have six of the 11, including three of the back four and two of the three midfielders. De Gea was the only United player to make their predicted team, with Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante the only other Premier League individual on their team.
Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain each landed one, and you can almost certainly name them before you even look.
NBC Sports FIFPro World XI Prediction:
Goalkeeper: David De Gea (Manchester United)
Defenders: Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Midfielders: Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Neymar JR (Paris Saint-Germain)
Imagine if De Gea had actually moved to his hometown club back in the summer of 2015, then the domination of the La Liga giants could reach an even higher level.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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