Ranking the Top Footballers in the World for 2023/24

We all know how hard it is to get excited about international breaks, right?

This is especially true for those of us who follow the Republic of Ireland's football and end up watching League One players strive to compete with those in the Premier leagues.

Regardless, these international breaks give us an opportunity to pause, reflect, and evaluate the performances of the football players worldwide.

In fact, we use the international break to carry out this very analysis. Below are 90min's rankings of the top, and most in-form footballers globally in the initial few months of the 2023/24 season.

To ensure fairness at 90min, we'll start our list with a 35-year-old forward playing for Fluminense, the Brazilian team with the best kits. Even though it may seem strange to have a 35-year-old Fluminense player on a list of the top 20 current players around the globe, but the reality is that German Cano has scored the most significant goals this season. He has scored six goals, including three in the semi-finals, leading his team to the recent Copa Libertadores finals.

Regarded by many as the best goalkeeper in Premier League history, and undoubtedly the best in the world presently - Alisson Becker's form has been amazing throughout his Liverpool tenure. He has recently escalated his performances to an even higher level, as seen in the recent Tottenham vs Liverpool match.

After a not-so-stellar start to their 2023/24 campaign, Newcastle United is now on fire, mainly due to Bruno Guimaraes' superb performances. His performances have been so impressive that the Magpies gave him a new five-year deal.

Once the Robin, now the Batman at Tottenham Hotspur, Son Heung-min is faring well in his new role. His six goals in seven Premier League games, two of which were in the north London derby, have led his team to the top of the Premier League as we go into the international break.

It's uncommon for any defender to restrict Erling Haaland to zero shots in a game, but William Saliba did exactly that in a recent Arsenal win over Manchester City. His performance has only improved after a breakout 2022/23 season.

Next on the list is none other than Lionel Messi, arguably the best footballer ever. The low ranking (15th) we've given him is mostly due to the injury he sustained in mid-September, during which he missed four Inter Miami games.

While Leroy Sane has always been highly regarded, this season is the first time he's demonstrated truly world-class performance. His connection with Harry Kane has led to his best ever goal-scoring streak - with seven goals from all competitions so far.

When Arsenal signed Declan Rice for a staggering £105m from West Ham, expectations were high. Fortunately, he has more than fulfilled these expectations with his best performances coming precisely when they were required the most.

With Xabi Alonso as the manager, Victor Boniface has been unstoppable in the early weeks of the season at Bayer Leverkusen. His modest signing cost of £17m has been justified by his performance.

James Maddison was the best signing of the Premier League this summer. His creativity in the exhilarating Tottenham team has led to him providing five assists already.

Wherever he is, Cristiano Ronaldo always scores goals. In his 22nd professional season, Ronaldo has netted an impressive 17 goals in 17 games for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.

Almost all the major European clubs scouting Santiago Gimenez this season, including Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund, Inter, Juventus, Milan and Napoli, have been impressed. Gimenez's 17 goal contributions this season include a hat trick and an assist in a famous victory for Feyenoord over Ajax.

Serhou Guirassy ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a list of the best footballers in the world right now?That seems a bit insane, until you check the stats. When you do check the stats, you'll see that Guirassy has scored 13 Bundesliga goals in just seven appearances for Stuttgart. Yep, 13 goals in seven games. That is remarkable on its own, but factor in the fact that, prior to this season Guirassy had never scored more than 11 goals in a single campaign, and you have probably the most indescribable stat line in the history of mankind.

Although Guirassy sits top of the Bundesliga goalscoring charts, Harry Kane has been the best player in the league thus far. Bayern Munich forked out £82m (according to Uli Hoeness, anyway) for the legendary goalscorer, and in the early months of his career in Bavaria he's more than lived up to the fee. His 14 goals contributions in all competitions has got Bayern fans dreaming of another UEFA Champions League triumph.

There's two stats which prove just how crucial Rodri is to the best football team in the world: 1. Man City have won every single game Rodri has featured in this season.2. Man City have lost every single game Rodri has not featured in this season.

Prior to his four game run without a goal or assist, Kylian Mbappe probably would've been top of this list. That fact that he still has managed eight goals this season despite that poor run of form say a lot about just how unstoppable he was when he initially returned to the PSG lineup in mid-August.

Like Mbappe, Haaland would've been even higher on this list had his most recent performances been of a higher standard. Also like Mbappe however, Haaland has still scored eight goals this season despite only having one pop at goal in the last two weeks. Fairly remarkable, that.

Lautaro Martinez has ascended to previously unthinkable heights in the early weeks of the 2023/24 Serie A season. The Inter captain has cemented his name among the world's truly elite footballers with a quite remarkable 10 goal haul, and seems to only be getting better and better as the weeks progress. Don't be surprised to Lautaro leading Inter out in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League once again in the spring.

It's easy to quantify how good Mohamed Salah is:- The 2022/23 season, in which he scored 19 Premier League goals and racked up 12 assists, was considered a 'down year' for the forward. Salah, as per, has been one of the best performers in the Premier League during the current campaign, tallying up nine goal contributions.

When your stats are being compared to Cristiano Ronaldo's, your goals being compared to Diego Maradona's, and your cultural impact being compared to Michael Jordan, you know you must be a pretty special athlete. And that's exactly what Jude Bellingham is. At just 20 years old, Bellingham has become the leader at the biggest football club in the world by scoring ten goals in ten appearances for Real Madrid. He is simply sublime.