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#3 Mark Noble (West Ham United) - 16 years and 8 months
Mark Noble is one of four active players to have spent over 16 consecutive years at one club. He joined West Ham United in the summer of 2004, where he has stayed there since, except for brief loan spells at Hull City and Ipswich Town.
The 33-year-old Englishman is a rare one-club man in the Premier League. In 502 cumulative appearances for the London clubs, Noble has found the back of the net on 60 occasions, while also providing nearly as many assists (61).
The midfielder's goal against Leicester City in a Premier League game last season made him the West Ham player with the most goal contributions in the competition.
Although the player has attracted interest from a host of domestic rivals, he is unlikely to move ship anytime soon, with Noble ending his career at West Ham being a very likely prospect.
#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 16 years and 8 months
Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player to have graced the game of football.
Since making his debut for Barcelona in the 2004-05 season, Messi has created records galore, with some of them unlikely to ever be emulated by anyone, while winning numerous titles with the club.
In fact, it would not be wrong to say that Barcelona enjoyed the most fruitful period in their history after the arrival of Lionel Messi. With the diminutive Argentinian calling the shots in the attacking-third, the club lifted an unprecedented treble of Liga, Copa Del Rey and Champions League on multiple occasions (2008-09, 2014-15).
With 444 goals, Messi is the all-time La Liga top-scorer in the competition's history. As if that was not enough, the Barcelona captain also has more La Liga assists, hat-tricks and freekicks than any other player. His 115 goals in the Champions League is the most by any player in the competition for a single club.
At the peak of his powers, Messi scored a sizzling 73 goals in all competitions in 2011-12, which included a stunning haul of 50 La Liga goals in just 36 games.
Messi has won 10 La Liga titles and 35 titles in all competitions, all while playing for Barcelona.
However, with the Argentine expressing his desire to leave the club after Barcelona endured their first trophyless season in 12 years, one of the last true vestiges of the true one-club player may soon be a thing of the past.
#1 Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow) - 17 years and 8 months
CSKA Moscow custodian Igor Akinfeev beats Lionel Messi to the honour of having spent the longest spell at one club among active players. Since joining the club in 2002, Akinfeev has been at the club for nearly 18 years (17 years, 8 months as on September 2020).
The 34-year-old has made 641 appearances in all competitions for the Russian capital club, keeping an impressive tally of 276 clean sheets.
The six-time Russian league winner had his crowning moment in 2004-05 when CSKA beat Sporting CP to win the UEFA Cup (now called the UEFA Europa League).
Note: All stats correct as of September 4th, 2020
