The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Opinion

The best XI going into Euro 2020

Autoplay in... 6 (Cancel)
Up Next No more videos! Playlist is empty -
Replay
Cancel
Next
Roar Guru
25th January, 2020
0

Euro 2020 is fast approaching and excitement is quickly building among football fans.

As we usher in the 2020 competition, I look at what could possibly be the best talent available at the upcoming tournament.

Firstly, I look at the team UEFA released on their official site to be the best from the qualifying stages for each position.

GK: Andriy Pyatov (eight games, five clean sheets)
DEF: Merih Demiral (nine games, seven clean sheets, 90 per cent pass accuracy)
DEF: Ragnar Sigurdsson (ten games, two goals, five clean sheets)
DEF: Sergio Ramos (nine games, four goals, five clean sheets, 94 per cent pass accuracy)
MID: Ioannis Kousoulos (ten games, four goals, 50 balls recovered)
MID: Bernardo Silva (eight games, three goals, six assists)
MID: Georginio Wijnaldum (seven games, eight goals, two assists, 92 per cent pass accuracy)
MID: Eran Zahavi (ten games, 11 goals, one assist)
FW: Raheem Sterling (seven games, eight goals, seven assists)
FW: Harry Kane (eight games, 12 goals, five assists)
FW: Memphis Depay (six games, eight assists, six goals)

Although this team has statistically performed the best at the qualifiers, it is safe to say that this would not be precisely reflective of the talent available.

England's Harry Kane celebrates after scoring the opening goal of his team during the World Cup Group F qualifying soccer match between England and Slovenia at Wembley stadium in London, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. England won 1-0.

(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

UEFA has used FedEx Performance zone to rank the best European footballers in all European national team competitions.

The following is ranked by position and overall score. The best 11 is more likely to look like this.

Advertisement

GK: Jordan Pickford (3) – 2401 points
DEF: Sergio Ramos (9) – 1783 points
DEF: Matthijs de Ligt (4) – 2195 points
DEF: Ruben Dias (8) – 1785 points
MID: Toni Kroos (16) – 1617 points
MID: Frenkie de Jong (2) – 2518 points
MID: Georginio Wijnaldum (11) – 1741 points
MID: Bernardo Silva (7) – 1847 points
FW: Memphis Depay (1) – 2607 points
FW: Antoine Griezmann (6) – 1878 points
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo (10) – 1763 points

Again, although a lot more likely to be correct using the best talent available, I have made a few tweaks to this team to portray what I think most accurately represents the best 11 available at Euro 2020, also taking in to consideration that statistics do not necessarily define talent and how certain footballers perform in these big moments.

GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold
DEF: Virgil Van Dijk
DEF: Matthijs De Ligt
MID: N’Golo Kanté
MID: Kevin De Bruyne
MID: Frenkie de Jong
MID: Bernardo Silva
FW: Kylian Mbappe
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo
FW: Raheem Sterling

The players represented in my selection of the best players at Euro 2020 by position has been concluded considering domestic club performance, international team performance and overall consistency in domestic seasons, big games and tournaments alike.

Let us know what you think about my team going into the tournament and any changes you would make in the comments below.

close