As we head to the conclusion of the most elongated football season in recent years, we're also close to the start of the new season, with some countries having already begun their 2020-21 campaigns.
But for the European elite, in the top leagues of the continent, the start of the new season is still a few weeks away. There have been some managerial changes, and some seismic events in the past few weeks in European football, including the biggest of players asking to leave their clubs.
However, for some clubs, they just cannot afford to lose to certain players, either permanently or due to injuries during the course of the season.
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Here, we take a look at ten players without whom their respective clubs' systems would not be able to function with the same aplomb that it does right now.
#10 Raphael Guerreiro | Borussia Dortmund
For Borussia Dortmund under Lucien Favre, the two wing-backs have been critical for the system to function.
Last season, the two wing-backs, Raphael Guerreiro and Achraf Hakimi combined to provide a goal or an assist once in every 104 minutes. For context, the Liverpool pair of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson only had a goal involvement once in 136 minutes.
With Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus mostly occupying the starting positions on the wings, it is the Dortmund wing-backs that are important to their functioning for the benefit of the team.
Especially on the left flank, Reus is someone who likes to cut in-field, and operate in the spaces behind the striker. If that happens, Dortmund begin to be lopsided without the wing-back providing the width on that flank. That is where Guerreiro's role becomes so important, as he stretches play on the left side. He is an excellent crosser of the ball as well, and that is an important facet of Dortmund's play with a striker like Erling Haaland.
It only add to Guerreiro's importance to the side that he takes set-pieces as well, with a distinct ability to score directly off them as well.
#9 Romelu Lukaku | Inter Milan
Romelu Lukaku has only spent one year at Inter Milan, after being brought to the club by Antonio Conte. The Italian head coach had long been wanting to work with Lukaku, and even tried to sign him for Chelsea, but that move did not materialise.
Conte's Inter Milan are a very disciplined side, who require Lukaku's ability to stretch play in the forward areas. Conte's 3-5-2 system is dependent on being compact and shutting the spaces in between the lines. Therefore, it is vital that they have a striker like Lukaku, who is capable of both holding up the ball and linking up, as well as running at defenders on his own.
Unlike Conte's Chelsea side, where Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic weren't particularly the most mobile players, Inter's midfield consists of Nicolo Barella and either of Stefano Sensi or Roberto Gagliardini, who are both runners from midfield.
Lukaku's ability to hold the ball up brings them into play. Once the likes of Sensi and Barella get into the attacking third, that also provides another option to feed the likes Lautaro Martinez, who has been heavily dependent on the service that he receives.
#8 Joshua Kimmich | Bayern Munich
It is not a stretch to say that even with Robert Lewandowski's goals, Joshua Kimmich's presence is the most important for Hansi Flick's Bayern Munich side.
This season, Kimmich has mostly played as a midfielder, forming a partnership with either Leon Goretzka or Thiago Alcantara. Kimmich is obviously a workhorse, he reads play excellently, and defends really well, but his passing range is also an extremely underrated facet of his game.
When he has started in midfield, Kimmich hasn't really been the traditional sitting midfielder, taking on more of a box-to-box role, and creating the spaces for Thomas Muller to occupy in the middle of the park.
Kimmich is priceless to this Bayern side, though, because he is a unique kind of player, who has put in world-class performances in two seemingly unrelated positions.
In the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League, with Benjamin Pavard injured, Kimmich had to fill in at right-back, and he did that with aplomb as well.
He scored a goal in the quarterfinal drubbing of Barcelona, and eventually set up Kingsley Coman's winner in the final against Paris Saint-Germain as well.
#7 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Arsenal
For Arsenal, who are just finding their feet under Mikel Arteta, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a god-send. He is not exactly a unique player in terms of his position, or what he offers to a side tactically.
But for a side that is just coming to terms with a few years of mediocrity and now a new manager, Aubameyang's goals are so crucial. The Gabonese now plays on the left-wing under Arteta, leaving his role as a central striker.
That has worked wonder for Arsenal, with their captain cutting in from the flank, and posing even more of a threat, while also allowing them to accommodate either Alexandre Lacazette or Eddie Nketiah through the middle.
Both in the semifinal and final of the FA Cup against Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, Aubameyang was destructive for Arsenal, with his out-to-in runs from the left. It allowed Arsenal the liberty to play long balls over the top, knowing that Aubameyang's pace would catch up with most of those, and relieved the pressure off their defenders.
That was crucial for the Arsenal rearguard, which was lacking in confidence for most of the season. The ball in between the right-back and the right-sided centre-back is now a crucial weapon that they deploy to get the best out of Aubameyang.
#6 Mateo Kovacic | Chelsea
In a side that can almost score goals on demand, Mateo Kovacic is the one tasked with providing Frank Lampard's Chelsea with some sort of balance in the centre of the park.
Kovacic's tactical awareness and his engine are crucial factors to him now becoming undroppable for Lampard, as Chelsea head into the new season trying to correct a defensive record that saw them concede 54 times in 38 league games last season.
Chelsea's system is dependent on quick transitions and that is where Kovacic is the most crucial to the side, as the shuttle in midfield. His ball-carrying abilities are a definite plus for this Chelsea side.
Kovacic had the highest successful dribble percentage in the last season in the Premier League, with 86%. In transitions, that is a massive weapon for Lampard, as Kovacic is able to beat the first line of the opposition's press rather comfortably.
When the new season begins, Kovacic will be able to come out of that press to feed the likes of Christian Pulisic and Timo Werner, who will use their pace to make runs in behind the opposition's rearguard, and that is going to be a considerably dangerous ploy, especially in the bigger games, when teams will look to take the game to Chelsea.
#5 Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United
Bruno Fernandes's impact since joining Manchester United in January cannot be understated. The Red Devils had just lost consecutive games to Liverpool and Burnley, and the entire mood around the club was desolate.
But Fernandes has managed to come in, and make an immediate impact, with his ability to play immaculate through balls, and just his composed ball retention in midfield.
Both Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have hugely benefited from Fernandes's presence in midfield, with the two frontmen not having to come too deep to receive the balls anymore.
With Fernandes in the side, Martial and Rashford can now make runs in behind and stretch opposition defences with their pace, while also being a brilliant goal-scoring outlet for United.
Fernandes played a vital role in helping Manchester United secure a top-four finish and in their Europa League semifinal run, scoring 12 goals and providing a further eight assists in 22 matches.
#4 Karim Benzema | Real Madrid
Post the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema really has taken on the mantle of being the main man at Real Madrd.
Benzema has really increased his end-product since Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus. The Frenchman has scored a brilliant 57 goals and racked up 22 assists over the last two seasons.
He was always an outstanding link-up player, even when Ronaldo was at Real. It was what enabled Real to get the best out of the Portuguese superstar when he was in Madrid.
Post Ronaldo's departure, with Gareth Bale's minutes on the field becoming even more scant, Benzema has had to play with the inexperience of the likes of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes around him.
He was the most consistent attacker for Real in La Liga in the 2019-20 season, as they regained the title from Barcelona, with only Lionel Messi scoring more goals than him.
#3 Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool
In many ways, Liverpool's young local sensation is redefining the role of a right-back in modern-day football. It would not be a stretch to say that Alexander-Arnold is the Reds' most creative player, but what makes him unique is how different he is to the traditional right-back.
While Alexander-Arnold always maintains the width on the right flank for Liverpool, he is not one who often finds himself on the by-line looking to whip a cross in from there. Because of the quality of his delivery,
Alexander-Arnold is able to maintain a position around the edge of the penalty area, but wide on the flank, when he whips his crosses in, which accounted for a brilliant 13 assists in the Premier League for the champions.
In many ways, Alexander-Arnold is like a quarter-back from the flanks. His cross-field passes are things of beauty, for the pace and how flat he manages to ping them. That also enables Andy Robertson to attack opponents and hurt them with his crossing from that flank.
#2 Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City
Well, what can you say about this brilliant Belgian? As much as Pep Guardiola looks to fill his side with quality in all areas of the pitch, it is really not a contest as to who the fulcrum of this Manchester City side.
Kevin De Bruyne, like Alexander-Arnold, is undroppable because he's a unique player for his position. He mostly starts on the right side of a midfield three, but it is the areas that he is able to access from there, which makes him unique. He is as capable of making a mazy run past a couple of defenders as he is of pinging one ball over the top for a Raheem Sterling or a Sergio Aguero to latch on to and finish.
That is what makes De Bruyne so difficult to defend - his unpredictability, and the quality of his versatility.
As a left-back or a defensive midfield, you would have to be on your A-game for the duration of a game against Manchester City because those are mostly the areas that De Bruyne likes to access, with the inside-right channel being his favourite.
You cannot give him time and space on the ball, because he can play killer passes time and again. But if you get too tight to him, he's just as capable of dribbling past you.
#1 Lionel Messi | Barcelona
At this point, it is difficult to say what Ronald Koeman's new system at Barcelona would be, but if Lionel Messi wished to stay at Barcelona after resolving his current differences with those that run the club, it is easy to see why it would revolve around Messi.
Messi, last season for Barcelona, single-handedly kept them afloat in the La Liga title race for as long as they were alive. He scored the most goals in the league, and also broke Xavi's decade-old record for most assists in a single league season.
Without Messi, it is difficult to imagine Barcelona being anywhere near the top of the La Liga table, and that is why it is even more baffling that the Barcelona board have let things drift to a point where the Argentine leaving the club is now seen as a realistic possibility.
