FIFA 18 ratings: Liverpool flop Assaidi gets five-star skills while Lionel Messi does not

What's the story?

EA Sports has just released a list of 39 players who have been given a five-star skill rating on FIFA 18 and one of the players on the list is Oussama Assaidi. But the surprising piece of news is that Barcelona star Lionel Messi is nowhere to be seen on the list. Instead, the Argentine has been given a four-star skill rating along with the likes of Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard and Antoine Griezmann

In case you didn't know

The Moroccan winger is best known for joining Liverpool for a fee of £2.4 million in 2012. Unfortunately, he was a wasted addition because he only stepped on the field 12 times in his entire Liverpool career.

He was later loaned to Stoke City where he met some amount of success. Following that, he moved to Al-Ahli in Dubai. He is currently with Dutch team FC Twente, but has only featured in five matches so far.

The heart of the matter

It does seem a little strange that a 4-time Ballon d'Or winner would only get a four-star skill rating in FIFA 18. One would have expected him to be up there among the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr. England fans too don't have a reason to rejoice as there are no English players among the 39 players.

However, Irish midfielder Aiden McGeady does feature among the 39 to the surprise of many. Only five Premier League players have made the cut -- they are, Manchester United's Paul Pogba, Leicester's Riyad Mahrez, Southampton's Sofiane Boufal, Everton's Yannick Bolasie and Chelsea's Charly Musonda.

What's next?

FC Twente are not exactly doing too well in the Dutch Eredivisie, having lost most of their matches. But Oussama will be given a big confidence boost in knowing that his skill rating is higher than that of Leo Messi.

Sportskeeda's take

To be perfectly honest, this piece of news surprised us as well. How a failed Liverpool player got a skill rating higher than a player like Messi, bamboozled us.