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#3 Arturo Vidal (Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga)
Arturo Vidal is perhaps the most underrated player on this list. But the Chilean midfielder won the Scudetto in all four seasons with Juventus, won a hat-trick of Bundesliga titles in as many seasons at Bayern Munich and then won a La Liga title in two seasons with Barcelona.
The versatile player, who can play in a bevvy of positions like attacking and defensive midfield, full-back, secondary striker and false 9, made his name with Juventus as a tireless box-to-box midfielder (mezzala). Vidal is also renowned for his keen positional sense, hard tackling, ball-distribution skills, aerial prowess and set-piece ability.
Though he has not scored goals galore in his career, the 33-year-old has created goal-scoring opportunities aplenty for teammates in three different top-5 leagues.
Vidal scored 35 goals and provided 22 assists during his four seasons at Juventus, with the Bianconeri winning the league title on each occasion. In 2015, the Chilean returned to Germany for his second spell in the Bundesliga where he scored 14 goals and provided 12 assists as the Bavarian giants continued their domestic dominance.
The player then won an eighth consecutive league title when he won the 2018-19 La Liga with Barcelona before the streak ended when Real Madrid overcame the Blaugrana to win their first Spanish top-flight title in three years.
Luis Suarez had warm words for his teammate who is slated to return to the Serie A this season:
“Having you as a rival was unbearable because of how great you are as a player, but having you as a teammate, friend, and knowing you as a person is even bigger! A pleasure to have been with a star player like you. I wish you all the best.”
#2 Zlatan Ibrahimovich (Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga, Serie A)
Zlatan Ibrahimovich is one of the most decorated strikers in world football. The much-travelled Swedish striker is still playing professional football (with AC Milan) at the ripe old age of 38, having won league titles in Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France.
At one point in time, Ibrahimovic won a league title in eight consecutive seasons (includes the 2004-05 and 05-06 Serie A title won with Juventus which were later stripped of) with five different clubs before the streak ended when his present club AC Milan were pipped by Juventus to the 2011-12 Serie A title.
Ibrahimovich then returned to winning ways at Paris St. Germain where he won the Ligue 1 title in each of his four seasons at the club. The striker narrowly failed to become the first player to win league titles in four different top-5 leagues when Manchester United finished second in the 2017-18 Premier League.
Ibrahimovich is renowned for his aerial prowess, shooting ability and versatility that has seen him being deployed as a secondary striker and even as a number ten.
The Swedish forward has scored 134 Serie A goals for three different clubs, winning the league title with all of them.
In his lone season in Spain 2009-10, Ibrahimovich scored 16 goals as Barcelona won the 2019-20 La Liga title. The striker then scored 113 Ligue 1 goals in four seasons at PSG, with the French champions winning the league title on each occasion.
Despite being in his mid-thirties, Ibrahimovich was signed up by English giants Manchester United. He scored 28 times in all competitions in his first season at the club, a tally that included 17 Premier League goals, but United fell well short of the league title.
Jose Mourinho, who worked with Ibrahimovich at Inter Milan and Manchester United, spoke highly about the Swedish striker:
"Zlatan, three words - he's a winner, he's a goalscorer and he's funny - he's a funny guy. You need to understand him. He's a funny guy and if you don’t know him, maybe you think with some quotes he's a bit arrogant. But he's just a funny guy. So, I would just say that. Funny, winner and goalscorer. I was so happy to get him, and obviously, he’s happy to work for me now."
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A)
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably one of the greatest players to have graced the game. During an illustrious near two-decade-long professional career, the Portuguese maestro has found success in three different top-five leagues in Europe.
Ronaldo is renowned for his prolific goal-scoring prowess, aerial ability and versatility that has seen him transition from the wings to a more central position in the attacking-third.
The 35-year-old first made his name at Manchester United where he won three Premier League titles. In one of those seasons (2007-08), Ronaldo scored 31 league goals and won the Champions League title with the club as he won the first of his five Ballon d'Or awards.
After arriving at Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, Ronaldo hit stratospheric heights. During nine prolific seasons at the club, the 5-time Champions League winner scored 311 La Liga goals in just 292 games and won two La Liga titles and four Ballon d'Or awards.
Moving to Italy at the age of 33, Ronaldo didn't take long to make his mark in the Italian top-flight. After a lukewarm first season where he scored 'only' 21 goals, the Portugal captain plundered 31 in his next campaign as Juventus won their eighth and ninth consecutive Scudetto titles.
In the process, Ronaldo became the first player to score 50 goals in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A and the first player after Dzeko to score that many goals in three different top-5 leagues.
In his autobiography, Manchester United's legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson describes Cristiano Ronaldo as a generational talent.
“Cristiano was the most gifted player I managed. He surpassed all the other great ones I coached at United - and I had many. The only ones who could be placed near him would be a couple of the home-produced players, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, because they contributed so prodigiously to Manchester United for two decades.”
