5 players who are surprisingly part of Whoscored.com's top 20

When it comes to researching football statistics, there are few better websites out there than Whoscored.com. They’ve got the details of appearances, goals, assists, transfer fees, and basically anything else you’d need to know about the world’s top players.

One of their most fascinating features is their player ranking system, based on a variety of different statistics – minutes played, goals scored, passing success rate, and an average player rating for each game.

Looking at Whoscored.com’s top 20 is basically like looking at a who’s who of world football – all of the top names are present, from Neymar Jr (currently #1) and Lionel Messi (currently #2) to Kylian Mbappe (currently #5) and Harry Kane (currently #7).

There are, however, a handful of surprises. Cristiano Ronaldo, for instance – arguably the world’s greatest player – only clocks in at #41 with an average rating of 7.46 – below Dries Mertens and Iago Aspas. And of course, there are a few surprising names in the top 20 – and here are five of them.

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#5 Nabil Fekir

Nabil Fekir has been on top form for Lyon

Currently sitting in the #3 spot behind only worldwide superstars Neymar and Messi, Lyon’s attacking midfielder Nabil Fekir seems wildly out of place for the time being, but it may well be largely because playing for Lyon – who sit in third place in Ligue 1 and aren’t in the Champions League – he’s flying somewhat under the radar. If Arsenal have their way however and he joins them in the January transfer window, then his stock may suddenly shoot up.

Fekir is clearly talented and has been highly praised by French legends Didier Deschamps – who has called him into the French national squad and handed him his international debut in October – and Zinedine Zidane, who reportedly considered signing him for Real Madrid in the summer. And his performances thus far this season have been fantastic – thirteen league goals in sixteen games speaks for itself really – it’s almost Mbappe-esque.

It may well have been the case that Fekir was simply rusty last season – he was looking like one of Europe’s top prospects a few years back, but then suffered a severe knee injury that sidelined him for most of 2015/16.

But he’s no stranger to controversy – despite being named Lyon’s new captain, he was banned earlier in the season for a nasty incident that saw him taunt rival fans from St. Etienne, causing the game to be stopped for over 40 minutes while the crowd were calmed down. If he can keep up his current form, though, he’ll be one of Europe’s must-watch players in 2018/19.

#4 Florian Thauvin

French winger Florian Thauvin flopped at Newcastle but has since recovered

Currently sitting in the #9 spot in Whoscored.com’s top 20 – just above Sergio Aguero (#10) and Paolo Dybala (#11) is French winger Florian Thauvin, who currently plies his trade at Marseille. Whether his position is down to his undoubtedly good form – he’s scored 8 goals in 19 league games, has claimed 6 Man of the Match awards and has an average rating of 7.80 – or due to a fault in Whoscored.com’s system – weighting the French Ligue 1 as the same as the stronger Premier League and La Liga – is up in the air.

After all, Thauvin didn’t move any mountains during his brief spell at Newcastle United in 2015/16. The Frenchman was an odd signing to begin with, costing a pretty hefty £15m and signing a five-year deal. Prior to that he’d played two seasons at Marseille, where he hadn’t really lived up to his initial promise – he’d been named Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year back in 2012/13, but by the time of the Newcastle move, he seemed distinctly average, albeit with a lot of potential.

The move to the north-east didn’t go well at all – Thauvin only played thirteen games before being loaned back to Marseille, where he’s been ever since – making the move permanent in the summer of 2017. And evidently it’s been a good move – he’s gone from being criticised for turning up to a game wearing a tuxedo, to being capped by France for the first time. Keep up his current form, and he could well find himself in their World Cup squad – and in Whoscored.com’s top 20 for a long time.

#3 Aleksandar Kolarov

Aleksandar Kolarov has had a career resurgence at Roma

Manchester City are flying in the Premier League right now, and one of the reasons that most observers believe to be responsible for their success is the fact that Pep Guardiola spent millions in the summer to rebuild their defence.

That meant dispensing of long-time Serbian veteran Aleksandar Kolarov, and while it’s hard to question Guardiola’s judgment right now, it’s a surprise to see the 32-year old sitting at #12 in Whoscored.com’s rankings following his move to Roma.

Last season saw Kolarov start brightly after Guardiola moved him to a centre-back spot, but his form soon dipped and he became somewhat of a scapegoat for the City fans, despite actually putting in more tackles and completing more interceptions and blocks per game than the beloved Vincent Kompany.

But then Kolarov’s face never really fitted with City fans – despite spending seven seasons at the club and winning the Premier League twice, he always had to compete with the likes of Gael Clichy for a starting spot.

His move to Roma at the age of 32 seemed to signal the beginning of the end for Kolarov, but instead, he’s seen a career resurgence – the club currently sit 2nd in Serie A and Kolarov has practically been ever-present for them. He’s scored twice and has chipped in with three assists, and currently has an average rating of 7.75 on Whoscored.com – meaning there’s clearly life in the old dog yet.

#2 Luis Alberto

Luis Alberto has been outstanding for Lazio this season

Another Premier League flop currently sits at #13 in Whoscored.com’s top 20 – in this case, it’s former Liverpool winger Luis Alberto, who is currently starring for Simone Inzaghi’s resurgent Lazio side in Serie A.

Striker Ciro Immobile might be the man scoring all the goals – he’s hit a phenomenal 16 goals in 16 league games – but the newly capped Spain star Alberto is the man with the highest average rating – 7.75 at the time of writing.

Considering he cost Lazio just £4m – an absolutely paltry sum when compared to some of the other wild transfer fees being thrown around casually in recent seasons – it’s even more surprising.

He also barely featured for Lazio following his August 2016 move – playing just 10 times for the Rome-based side in 2016/17 despite not suffering any long-term injuries. For all intents and purposes, Alberto is a journeyman who’s currently playing out of his skin.

At Liverpool, he never showed any signs of this kind of form – to be fair to him, it would’ve been difficult given he only appeared in 9 Premier League games. But if he can keep playing well for Lazio as he’s been doing then there’s nothing to really hold him back from making Spain’s World Cup squad, given he was chosen for their recent World Cup qualifiers and he’s still just 25 years old. But even so – surrounded by huge names like Mo Salah and Paul Pogba, it’s weird to see him in Whoscored.com’s top 20.

#1 Faouzi Ghoulam

Faouzi Ghoulam is currently recovering from a severe knee injury

Algerian defender Ghoulam is another surprise name appearing in Whoscored.com’s top 20 – above the likes of Arturo Vidal, Eden Hazard and Luis Suarez. The surprise is essentially because the Napoli player is hardly the best known player in the world.

2017/18 is his fifth season in Naples and while he’s played plenty of games, he’s never really been talked about all that much. He was recently linked with a move to Chelsea or Liverpool, but he’s since signed a new deal to keep him with Napoli until 2022.

Despite being born in France, Ghoulam has represented Algeria on 35 occasions, but due to their failure to qualify, he won’t be starring in the World Cup next summer. But the left-back is clearly talented – he’s played 11 league games for Napoli and has scored 2 goals and assisted in 3 thus far – earning him an average rating on Whoscored.com of 7.65. And with a pass success percentage of 89.1, he actually outranks both Paul Pogba and Eden Hazard in that area.

The big question currently surrounding Ghoulam is when he’ll be back in action. He damaged his ACL back in early November and early reports suggested he’d miss the rest of the season – but the most recent reports have claimed he could be back as early as February. With Napoli currently leading Serie A and set to make a push for the Europa League, an on-form Ghoulam returning early would certainly be a bonus for them. For now though he’s possibly the most surprising name in Whoscored.com’s rankings.