FIFA 19 Player Ratings: The most likely Top 10 rated players

EA Sports commercial sensation FIFA is about to release its 2019 edition. As always, a significant part of the attention is focused on player ratings.

Get all the latest FIFA 19 News only at Sportskeeda.

Similarly to the past years, EA are revealing twenty Top 100 players each day a few weeks before the release of the game. Recently we witnessed the third batch of players with their overall ratings, which means there are Top 40 players yet to go.

It is expected that on Monday EA won't reveal all twenty of the Top 20 players but the first ten, meaning the official Top 10 will be released on Tuesday.

Let's look at the players that will most likely be in this highly anticipated Top 10.

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#15-10 Six players (90 - Thibaut Courtois, Toni Kroos, Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann, Kevin De Bruyne, Robert Lewandowski)

Robert Lewandowski

With the highest players ratings visibly increasing every year, it wouldn't be a surprise if nine footballers would be rated even higher than 90. Last season there were record high six 91+ rated players at the start of the game and three more joined after the winter upgrades.

Get all the latest FIFA 19 Player Ratings only at Sportskeeda.

It is expected that Kevin De Bruyne and Robert Lewandowski will get downgraded to 90 but two players will take their place.

The Belgian midfielder had a successful season with Manchester City, taking a direct part in 24 goals in Premier League. In January De Bruyne was upgraded to 91 and, while the downgrade back to 90 could seem harsh, EA are unlikely to have ten players rated 91+, so this should be seen as a correction.

The same problem could affect Lewandowski's rating as well. He had a great season - normal for his standards, scoring 29 goals in Bundesliga and five in Champions League. While that should keep Lewandowski his 91 overall rating, EA quite possibly will justify the downgrade with his poor performance in the World Cup.

On the contrary, because of the great World Cup, an upgrade is expected for Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann. Both players have never before been rated this high.

#9-5 Five players (91 - David De Gea, Manuel Neuer, Eden Hazard, Luis Suarez, Sergio Ramos)

Sergio Ramos

Despite criticism over his dirty playing style, Sergio Ramos has been one of the highest rated defenders over the last few years. This year the Spaniard captained Real Madrid to their third consecutive Champions League triumph and for the second time in a row was named the UEFA defender of the season.

In the FIFA 18, Ramos became the first defender since 2008 edition to be 90 at the start of the game. As EA has finally started to acknowledge defenders, the Spanish captain could be rated as high as 91.

EA usually downgrades players who miss a large part of the season and that means Manuel Neuer, who played only four games last year, is unlikely to be 92 in FIFA 19. It seems that for the first time since FIFA 14, Neuer will need to share the game's best goalkeeper title. If David De Gea doesn't get a highly unexpected downgrade or upgrade, he will also be 91.

The Spanish goalkeeper has had a fantastic time with Manchester United and for the past few years, he has often been compared to Neuer. In January he was upgraded to a 91. While De Gea did have an unfortunate World Cup, he was named the Premier League's goalkeeper of the year, so it would be foolish to downgrade him.

#4 Luka Modric (91-92)

Luka Modric

It is no secret to anyone that Luka Modric had a superb year, undoubtedly the best of his career. The Croatian played a great part in Real Madrid's Champions League triumph and led his country to the World Cup final.

Modric was awarded the tournament's Golden ball and recently he was named the UEFA Player of the season as well as included in the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Best player award.

So his last years 89 rating is obviously going to rise to at least 91. The question is - will it be 92?

History confirms it - previous two UEFA Players of the season (excluding Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) Frank Ribery and Andress Iniesta were both rated 90 the next FIFA, which were tied for the third-best rating. As the average rating has increased massively, Modric should be rated 92. Needless to add that two of the last three third-placed FIFA Players of the year have had a rating of 92.

But at the end of the day - each situation is different, Antoine Griezmann till this year hasn't been rated higher than 88, regardless of a third-place finish in FIFA Player of the year award and Golden Ball in Euro's 2016.

#3 Neymar (92)

Neymar

After moving to Paris for €222 million last summer, Neymar has been dominating the Ligue 1. He scored 19 goals and assisted on 13 more last season. Only his teammate Edinson Cavani and Florian Thauvin contribute to more goals. To make it even more impressive - Neymar played only 20 games, missing the last three months.

He managed to return back in time for the World Cup. While being heavily criticised and even laughed at for his diving, the Brazilian showed his best football. He took part in four goals and led his side to the quarterfinals.

It is talked about how Neymar's overall rating could suffer because of the Ligue 1 level. But let's not forget that he demonstrated his quality in the Champions League, scoring six goals in the group stages, including one against Bayern Munich.

If Neymar doesn't get a surprising downgrade, it will be the third season in a row for him being rated 92. No doubt that is not the highest he will go in his career.

#2 Lionel Messi (93)

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi had one of the most underrated seasons of his career. It is true that Barcelona was eliminated from Champions League early by an underdog side Roma and Messi had a disappointing World Cup with Argentina. Nevertheless, the Argentinian managed to score 45 goals and make 18 assists, helping Barcelona convincingly win the La Liga and Copa Del Rey.

Not the best season for Messi but a highly impressive regardless. That hasn't shown on the awards as he didn't get nominated for UEFA Player of the season title nor is he competing for the FIFA Player of the year award.

Would be really shocking if EA went against all the award competitions and upgraded Messi's rating, even though football fans are demanding the same rating for him and Ronaldo for years.

The upgrade is very unlikely also from a business point of view, as Messi has a contract with their biggest competitor PES but Ronaldo is the face of FIFA.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (94)

Cristiano Ronaldo

This summer Cristiano Ronaldo shocked the football world when he moved to Juventus for more than €100 million. While he has started with three wins in Turin, individually it hasn't been great, being scoreless in the first three games.

It would be unreasonable to think that these few matches will affect Ronaldo's rating, as he had an amazing Champions League season with Real Madrid, winning the title for the third consecutive season and scoring 15 goals, and a productive World Cup, scoring a remarkable hat-trick against Spain.

As mentioned in the previous slide, for a long time fans have wanted to see Ronaldo and Messi with the same overall rating. It has never happened before and it most likely won't in this FIFA. It would be a big surprise if they downgraded Ronaldo after impressing in the two main competitions of the year.

And can't forget that EA has always shown at least a little bias towards their cover players.