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The 2017/18 European football season was something special, as France lifted the World Cup at Russia and Real Madrid won its third consecutive UEFA Champions League trophy and its fourth in five years.
The likes of Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Moric and Kylian Mbappe are the likely winners of the 2018 Ballon'dOr, with Modric already swooping the UEFA Men's player of the year award.
However, there are some top players who are still left to shine, as they haven't have had the best of starts this season. This article is to discuss a few of them.
#4 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Despite a slow start to the season, the Gabonese striker has enough caliber to end the season with the English Premier League Golden Boot to his name.
The 29-year-old has just netted a single goal in his 4 starts for Arsenal, and this is something very different from Aubamayenag's usual self.
After joining Arsenal in the winter transfer window last season, he bagged 10 goals and 4 assists in just 13 games in the EPL, just two fewer goals than Chelsea's Belgian Eden Hazard (equalling the assist tally) who played the whole season.
His partnership with Ousmane Dembele at Borussia Dortmund is something the BVB fans would never forget, as the duo led them to a DFB-Pokal cup in 2017, defeating Bayern Munich in the semis with a 3-2 score, which brings me to my next point.
#3 Ousmane Dembele
If it wasn't for the injuries, Dembele might have been miles ahead from his other young competitors. The former Dortmund star signed for the Catalan giants a year ago, but his journey with Barcelona has only been about injuries, so far.
Dembele did impress, however, scoring a wonder goal against Chelsea last term in the UEFA Champions League, and scoring the game-winner in the 2018 Spanish Supercup against Sevilla. His electrifying dribbling skills, intelligent movement, unreal pace and incredible shooting will make him a difficult opponent to defend against.
Dembele has shown glimpses of what he is capable of doing for the Blaugrana, and the Frenchman certainly is a long-term solution for Barcelona.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo
Despite not having the greatest performance with Juventus so far, we all know what Cristiano Ronaldo is capable of. The Portuguese winger is compared with the best of bests as his insane consistency and goal-scoring ability has won him plenty of hearts and respect.
Being the second-top scorer in the World Cup 2018 and the UCL top scorer, Ronaldo will wish to continue his incredible form for a longer period of time, as the Old Lady require his services.
Ronaldo has had 23 shots in just 3 games, but he has not found the back of the net, yet. However, across the past seasons, something we have learned about Cristiano Ronaldo is to never rule him out in competitions.
Cristiano had a so-so start of the year in his last season with Real Madrid after not scoring in the first League matches he played. He went on to finish the year with 44 goals in 44 games and showing up in the biggest stages for Los Blancos.
#1 David De Gea
From being named the 'Best goalkeeper' last term, De Gea is nowhere near the bests this season. The Spaniard has had a depressing World Cup campaign, and his opening games with Manchester United hasn't been impressive either.
He was on a different level altogether last season, as he has played a vital role in protecting the goal, considering the fact that United's defence has always been a problem. While perhaps only Marc-André Ter Stegen can claim to have had performed at a similar level last year.
It's only a matter of time when the Spaniard gets back to his original self, and if he gets along quickly, not many will be willing to bet against him to win the English Premier League Golden Glove this season.
