Sportskeeda's 10 best Forwards of 2017

Another year bids us adieu, but as we usher in 2018 with a bang we go back to do what football fans love doing best - ranking things.

This year-end special looks back at the fantastic footballing year we've just witnessed and attempts to rank the 10 best forwards during the calendar year.

If you disagree with the personnel or the ranking, do let us know in the comments section below -

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#10 Kylian Mbappe

He's Teenaged. He's as other-worldly talented as a mutant. But he ain't no turtle

What a year the young Frenchman had.

On this list as much for the quite mind-numbing potential he has displayed, as for his sensational performances, Kylian Mbappe has been magnificent for Monaco and in his new role alongside two of the game's most accomplished forwards (they'll join us in a while down the list) at Paris Saint-Germain.

After cementing his place in the Monaco squad during the earlier part of the year - and tearing apart Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund with ridiculous ease in the process - he's looked perfectly at ease in the posh environs of PSG, and with his ridiculous €166 million fee, in the second half.

It's been a while since someone so young caught the imagination so vividly!

#9 Edin Dzeko

Read that name. Try and pronounce it correctly, Fail. Sing it out loud anyway

Edin Dzeko was a vastly under-appreciated part of the first great PL-era Manchester City team and now with his move to AS Roma, he's getting all the plaudits he so richly deserves.

The first Roma player to win the Capocannoniere (Serie A's Golden Boot) since Francesco Totti resurrected the false 9 in 2006-07, Dzeko has been at the helm of I Gilarossi's assault on Juventus' throne - they finished just four points behind last season, but it was not due to a lack of goals... Roma's 90 a good 13 more than Juve.

The undisputed kingpin at the club now, Dzeko continues to grow in stature as he hits his peak.

#8 Robert Lewandowski

What is that hair? Why would he even do something like this?

Robert Lewandowski was very much his amazing goal-scoring self this year - setting a new European record by scoring 16 goals in the World Cup Qualifiers whilst guiding Poland to victory in Group E.

He missed out on the Bundesliga Golden Boot last season by a goal (to the inimitable Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) but the way he's started this one - 15 goals at one ever 92 minutes - he appears to be hell-bent on correcting it.

For both Poland and Bayern Munich, 'Lewa' was simply outstanding.

Points deducted for that ludicrous blonde haircut, though.

#7 Eden Hazard

That trophy looks like it's really happy to be in the hands of Eden, eh?

Mercurial, brilliant, enigmatic... the Belgian was the creative soul of Antonio Conte's brilliant first season (and is at the heart of his second season revival, when Eden plays well, Chelsea play well) and while N'Golo Kante got all the plaudits - and rightly so - Hazard's contribution to the cause was largely underplayed.

He doesn't have the sheer quantity of goals that most on this list have - but then again the Belgian is cut from a different cloth. A deeper lying forward than all of them, Hazard creates just as much, whether directly... or indirectly by drawing defenders to him and creating space for others to run into.

#6 Radamel Falcao

Earlier this year, Radamel Falcao made sure Willy Caballero had no future at Manchester City

Radamel Falcao's story is one of inspiration, of the kind of things one can achieve with a never-say-die spirit... To hell and back: the story of Radamel Falcao's miraculous resurrection ... but he isn't the 6th best forward in the world - as per this list, anyway - because of sentimental reasons or because of how much it lifts the narrative of the entire read.

He is there because he is back to his clinical 'El Tigre' best in front of goal.

Having top-scored for Europe's dazzling top-scorers, AS Monaco, last season, the Colombian has started the current one the same way and is right up there in the hunt for the European Golden Boot 2017/18.

Where he was once explosive and unpredictable, he is now more efficient - taking much fewer shots on goal, but scoring at a higher % than before - and the wily old center-forward will be raring to go in 2018.

#5 Neymar

You'd also be giving a thumbs-up if you earned that kind of money.

Think Neymar and you automatically think money. Lots and lots of it. 2017 was the year of Neymar - Sportskeeda's Top 10 iconic football moments of 2017 - and he grabbed the biggest headline of the year with his mind-blowing €222 million move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.

What got buried in the superficial rage that followed this transfer, though, was just how bloody good he had been in 2017. He inspired Barcelona almost singlehandedly in that ludicrous 6-1 victory over his current employers (Barca won 6-5 on aggregate, of course) while at PSG he has redefined what it means to be good in Ligue 1.

Having already bagged 17 goals and 12 assists this season for the Parisians (in all competitions) and having also inspired his nation to the most ridiculously easy-looking qualification in the world's toughest WCQ zone (CONMEBOL)... you can bet your bottom dollar he'll be going for no. 1 on everyone's list come 2018

#4 Edinson Cavani

What a spectacular sight, eh?

When Neymar moved to Paris and automatically became head honcho - because, €222 million, duh! - poor old Edinson Cavani once again became a sideshow to the main spectacle.

Some early protestations notwithstanding, he did what he always does... like he did when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was lording it around like he did when he was at Napoli... score and score bucket-loads of goals. He had 35 goals last time around, and this time around he's well on the way to beating that having already scored 19 goals (both tallies league only).

Oh, with France achieving the same coefficient as Spain, Italy, Germany, and England (x2) - he is also leading the race for the coveted European Golden Shoe award (awarded to the top scorer across leagues in Europe)

#3 Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo shut his detractors up with a scintillating display in the 16-17 UCL knockout stages

Fifth time Ballon d'Or winner. Fourth-time Champions League winner. Second-time La Liga winner. Second top-scorer in European World Cup Qualification (14 goals). Top Scorer in the Champions League. He defined the term Big-Game player.

Problem is though, while he was absolutely stunning in the first half of 2017, he oscillated between more record-breaking (scoring in every game of the Champions League Group Stages - the first person to do so) and absolutely, utterly wasteful (in waste swathes of La Liga) in the second half.

Cristiano Ronaldo was absolutely magical in 2017... but his inconsistency in the second half has cost him in the rankings at the end.

#2 Harry Kane

He needs to work on that smile, though, if he wants to enter the truly big leagues - commercially

Right behind Cavani on the Golden Shoe Rankings and above Cristiano Ronaldo in this (please don't smash your device now) is the one-career-wonder turned once-in-a-lifetime center-forward, Harry Kane.

Having become the first person in 8 years not named Messi or Ronaldo to top the goal-scoring charts in a calendar year, Kane is in the form of his life - scoring truckloads of goals, smashing aside opposition regardless of their reputation - he, in fact, has as many hat-tricks in 2017 as Messi, Ronaldo, and Cavani combined! Which is quite simply a ludicrous stat.

Ronaldo is obviously the better footballer (by far - so please don't think I'm implying that), but 2017's top-scorer deserved this 2nd spot when it came to calendar year rankings - if only based purely on individual consistency.

Honourable mentions

Mertens was unstoppable in 2017!

- Dries Mertens

The sharp end of one of Europe's most entertaining football teams, the winger turned striker was in absolute peak form for Napoli in 2017, finishing just a goal behind Edin Dzeko in the race for golden boot in the Serie A.

- Mohammed Salah

Salah was superb for Roma, sensational for Liverpool and absolutely magical for Egypt. He improved his game as the year went on and now looks utterly unstoppable what with his insane pace and clinical finishing.

Oh, he's also joint-third in the European Golden shoe rankings... so there's that.

- Mauro Icardi

The guy who's sharing the podium with Salah is the much-maligned captain of Inter Milan, Mauro Icardi - who has exploded into life in the second half of this season and has looked at his absolute unstoppable best.

#1 Lionel Messi

The Bernabeu felt the full wrath of Leo Messi this year - twice.

Who else, eh?

Messi carried Barcelona through most of 2016-17 winning the Pichichi (La Liga's top scorer award) - outscoring everyone else by a mile - and then continued to do so in 2017-18. He's been scoring for fun, assisting for fun, and essentially doing whatever in the hell he wants to do.

What he did with Argentina, though, was even more ludicrous - carrying the team on his shoulders and scoring the goals that made sure they would be present for the party in Russia in 2018.

He was consistent, magical, and utterly brilliant.