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Everyone is searching for the world's best footballer. Some people are exaggerating up their favorite player so much, that it is hard to find out, whom you should consider the "goat".
This slide deals with this question, but only for the left-wing position, as comparisons with other players in other positions cannot be made without any bias. Every position has different tasks and it would be unprofessional to compare two completely different players.
In the early days, it was very hard to find a good left-winger. The tactical role was to sprint down the wing and whip in a dangerous cross or pass to assist a goal.
This required the players to be left-footed, a trait which is very rare for a professional footballer. A typical example of this role would be Ryan Giggs.
Time changed and football got much more flexible when it comes to the tactical aspect. A left-winger is not a classical assister anymore, a winger can newly be an inside forward, a wide-playmaker or even a defensive-winger.
This opened up the room for right-footed players, who are listed as the wide player on the left side but play rather centrally to be more dangerous.
This article provides you with the currently best players in this position. (Only players that made their majority of games in this role are considered). The criteria to this list are the numbers this season, individual performance and importance for the team.
Players that just missed out and should be included in a top 10: Ousmane Dembele, Lorenzo Insigne, Heung-Min Son, Kingsley Coman, Anthony Martial and Serge Gnabry.
#4 Sadio Mané
Mané might be one of the biggest surprises this season. Many Liverpool supporters were not confident in the Senegalese as he often wasted his chances and due to that, probably lost the Reds some points last season.
This is rather unusual for a winger, who scored an impressive 124 times, without taking any penalty. His 64 assists also are a good number, considering that he is rather an inside forward. In his two Champions League seasons, Mané also contributed to an imposing 16 goals in 19 games.
Since last season Mané does not only wait for through balls, to beat the defense with his immense pace, he also receives the ball deeper and tries to create a chance. He is very good technically but does not try to do many cheeky tricks, as he rather makes a simple pass or dribble.
The ex-Salzburg player is also quite smart and often finds himself in a great position to score or assist.
As already mentioned, Mané really turned up in this year. He scored 17 times and probably is one of the main reasons why Liverpool are first in the Premier League right now.
While his assists decreased, his goals helped Mané to finally step out the shadow of Salah and Firmino and definitely is not underrated anymore. He also lead Senegal to their second ever World Cup, contributing to five goals directly in the group stage.
#3 Leroy Sané
Sané is one of many world-class players at Manchester City and with only 23 years, the youngest player on this list as well.
In his four years as a professional, he assisted 52 goals and nearly scored as many in 50. Playing in 20 Champions League games, the young German was already involved in 15 goals.
Leroy is another insanely fast player, probably one of the fastest in the world. His biggest strength is that he still has tight control of the ball while sprinting at full speed.
He got a great eye for his teammates in every situation, be it in the 16 yards box or on the rest of the pitch.
Sane is a very creative and smart player, who is one of the few left-footed players in this position, which are world class. Under Guardiola, he also got more dangerous at taking free kicks, which his latest goal against Schalke proofs.
The Manchester City star was able to tie on his very good form from last year. He banged 8 balls into the net and assisted another 10.
Only Hazard and his teammate Sterling gave more passes that lead to a goal. In the Champions League, he shows his true potential, having each, four goals and assists.
As he seems to get better and more complete in every season, we can expect much more from this young shooting star.
#2 Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is one of the biggest names in international football. The captain of the Belgium national team already scored 30 goals in his 100 games for the European nation.
The attacker is also very consistent in the Premier League, scoring at least 10 goals per season since his breakthrough year in 2011.
Hazard also got a quality assist record, creating 57 goals during this period. You should also consider that he mostly played under defensive coaches like Mourinho and Conte.
Hazard is much more than goals and assists. He often is the player who opens up the play for Chelsea, receiving the ball very deep.
The winger is dangerous for every opponent's defense, having an enormous acceleration, which combined with his tight ball control and agility, can be deadly. Scoring penalties and free kicks frequently, it is fair to say that this is also one of his strengths. He is a very smart player despite having some huge flair to his playing style.
In this season, the 29-year-old is Chelsea’s top scorer, having 13 goals and 11 assists in 29 games.
This stat is even more impressive when you appraise that he is also the team’s most important playmaker, playing around 50 passes per game, which is a huge number for a winger.
#1 Neymar Jr.
Neymar is a special mention on this list. He played most of his games, this season centrally, which would make him invalid for a “nomination” in this position. However, as the Brazilian played the majority of games in his career on the left side, he deserves his spot on the list.
At only 27 years, Neymar contributed to 361 goals directly, scoring 223 of them, He is on a great way to be directly involved to more than one goal a game.
The PSG star is the third best scorer of the Brazil national team’s history, only behind Ronaldo and Pele. Being 56 times on the scoresheet, he falls only short 21 more times, before he can overtake the legendary Pele.
Neymar may be the most skillful player in today’s game, combining that with his great efficiency, he is a very special player.
The ex-Barca attacker is able to do it all: Score a great goal, dribble past multiple opponents or play a deadly pass, all in one game. He can be found everywhere on the pitch, but still, be able to find himself in dangerous positions.
In this season, he scored 13 goals and made furthermore six assists in only 13 games, which is an unbelievable amount.
Six contributions in five games are also a very good number in the Champions League. Very sad is, that in this season he missed 17 games due to an ankle injury, if that would not be the case, his number could have definitely been more immense
