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#3 Keylor Navas
Keylor Navas enjoyed three glorious seasons of Champions League domination with Real Madrid from 2015 to 2018. He was the first-choice keeper for Los Blancos since their legend Iker Casillas departed. Navas has climbed through the ranks in various leagues season after season to reach the top.
The Costa Rican started his career at Deportivo Saprissa back in his homeland. He then moved to Spanish side Albacete in the second division league, Segunda Division in 2010.
Finally Navas arrived at the big stage of the Spanish top-flight with Levante. After a three-season spell. he earned his dream move to Real Madrid. Navas is currently at Paris Saint-Germain.
Last season’s Champions League was clear proof of how underrated Navas is. He was crucial in PSG’s 5-2 victory on aggregate against Barcelona, and negotiated the threat of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann quite brilliantly. Navas also ended up stopping Messi's penalty. Later in the quarter-finals, Navas gave an astonishing 10-save performance against the then defending champions Bayern Munich.
He has always been admired for his reflexes and is excellent at dealing with situations that leave him with very low reaction time. Navas will hope that with stars like Messi, Sergio Ramos, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and others, PSG can go on to win the Champions League this season.
#2 Christian Pulisic
Christian Pulisic has had a rather disappointing start to his new campaign at Chelsea this season. The American was COVID positive last month and when he finally started to gain fitness he suffered another injury. Many would have thought that under Thomas Tuchel Pulisic would be a regular starter given their relationship dates back to the Dortmund days, but that’s hardly been the case.
Pulisic was in the starting eleven for Chelsea’s opening Premier League game against Crystal Palace and scored a goal.
The United States international possesses an impressive turn of pace which allows him to drift into the box from wide areas. He has great feet while playing at half-turn and is usually creative with his one touch play in the final third. Frank Lampard, who himself was gifted with technical abilities, was a big fan of Pulisic during his time as Chelsea boss.
Injuries have made it hard for the American to consistently challenge for a starting berth at Chelsea but he has always been an inspirational substitute. Pulisic came through the ranks at Dortmund and was an important part of the trio that consisted of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and himself.
In his time at Dortmund, Pulisic scored 13 goals in 90 Bundesliga appearances, a feat he has bettered at Chelsea by scoring 14 in merely 53 Premier League games. Popularly known as “Captain America”, Pulisic has proved himself as an able-leader for the US men’s national team.
#1 Alphonso Davies
If Bayern Munich come looking for your signature when you’re just 18 and when Zlatan Ibrahimovic suggests you have a bright future, there really isn’t much left to debate. Alphonso Davies has done justice to every bit of expectation that any individual ever had of him. He’s the shining star at one of Europe’s biggest clubs and the list of admirers is just increasing.
Davies is a speedster and exploits that pace expertly to leave his opponents gasping on the field. A true definition of a modern full-back, he is adventurous and inventive while contributing in the final third and bold and clever on the defensive front. One of the most promising talents in Europe at the moment, Davies is the youngest Canadian to play for the national team.
The Canada international has been a regular threat moving forward this season and has provided two assists. For someone with that kind of pace, Davies is pretty nimble while dribbling past his opponents.
He has been putting in the hard yards for Julian Naglesmann’s side this season. His link-up play with Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala, who have also been deployed on the left side, has been crucial for Bayern’s fast counter-attacks.
Two years ago, Davies, in a 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona, embarrassed Nelson Semedo and made him look like an immobile object. Since then, Davies has cemented his position as one of the best modern day full-backs. In his 23 appearances for Canada’s national team, Davies already has 21 goal contributions. The sky is the limit for him.
