5 players shockingly omitted from the shortlist for FIFA's Best Player 2017 award

FIFA BEST 2017 nominees players missed out omitted
Who will be FIFA's Best Player in 2017? (Image courtesy of FIFA)

5) Dries Mertens (Napoli)

Dries Mertens
Dries Mertens

After a stellar season with Napoli in 2016/17, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that no major club tried to sign Dries Mertens. The Partenopei finished third in Serie A last season but take nothing away from the Belgian forward who lit up the Italian league.

28 goals and 9 assists is what Mertens finished with in the last league campaign. After Gonzalo Higuain was sold to Juventus for a record fee and Arkadiusz Milik tore his ACL on international duty, the burden fell on Mertens to lead the attack.

Standing a little over five-and-a-half feet tall, the 30-year-old Belgian formed a potent partnership with Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon in attack, ably assisted by Napoli veteran Marek Hamsik behind them.

Mertens eventually ended the season with 34 goals in all competitions.

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