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Football in Europe continues to be played with the most competitive spirit. As such, footballers from all around the world dream of playing for the biggest clubs in Europe's most prestigious leagues. Even though the focus in recent times has been heavily on homegrown players, foreign blood continues to impress in European territory.
For the last couple of years, a few North American footballers have been grabbing headlines at various European clubs. Here's a list of the five best active footballers from North America at the moment:
#5 Jonathan David
A significant contributor to the dethroning of Paris Saint-Germain as Ligue 1 champions, Jonathan David played a crucial part in Lille’s title run last season. The French club invested €30 million for David’s signature and it played out quite nicely in their favor. For the past few years, Lille have become an effective nurturing ground for emerging talents and David’s case was no different.
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The forward won the Canada player of the year award in 2019 after his impressive showing with Gent in the Jupiler Pro League. David was prolific with the Belgian side, scoring 18 goals and registering eight assists in 27 appearances in the league that season. He has a natural instinct of finding spaces to invade the 18-yard box and has silky feet.
With Lille, the forward showed an impressive appetite to press the opposition. David showed that he was a big game player last season when Lille traveled to Parc des Princes. Courtesy of his goal, which was also the only one of the game, Lille beat PSG on their own turf for the first time in 25 years. The attacking starlet has been keen on trying to become more clinical in the final third.
French clubs were hurt pretty badly by the pandemic and suffered significant losses. In an attempt to make some cash Lille might reluctantly have to sell David in the future. However, from here it will only be a step up for the Canadian sensation.
#4 Hirving Lozano
With Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne growing old, Napoli are expecting their younger starlets to step up and take the Naples club through the transition period seamlessly. Hirving Lozano is one such name and big things are expected of the Mexican. He came under the spotlight in Mexico’s World Cup campaign in 2018.
Lozano, nicknamed “Chucky”, scored a crucial goal in the Qualifiers to book Mexico’s berth in the World Cup. Later in Russia, Mexico stunned Germany and beat them through Lozano's goal.
The winger is very agile and on his day can dribble past defenders in the most tidy manner. He also has a knack for pressing high and with serious intensity, which has benefitted Napoli in recent times.
Lozano took some time to get into the groove at Napoli but seems to have found his feet whenever trusted by the managers. His versatility has seen him being deployed in both the left and right wings and sometimes behind the striker.
At 26, the best is yet to come from the Napoli starlet. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him play for an even bigger club in the future if he can stay clear of injuries.
#3 Keylor Navas
Keylor Navas enjoyed three glorious seasons of Champions League domination with Real Madrid from 2015 to 2018. He was the first-choice keeper for Los Blancos since their legend Iker Casillas departed. Navas has climbed through the ranks in various leagues season after season to reach the top.
The Costa Rican started his career at Deportivo Saprissa back in his homeland. He then moved to Spanish side Albacete in the second division league, Segunda Division in 2010.
Finally Navas arrived at the big stage of the Spanish top-flight with Levante. After a three-season spell. he earned his dream move to Real Madrid. Navas is currently at Paris Saint-Germain.
Last season’s Champions League was clear proof of how underrated Navas is. He was crucial in PSG’s 5-2 victory on aggregate against Barcelona, and negotiated the threat of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann quite brilliantly. Navas also ended up stopping Messi's penalty. Later in the quarter-finals, Navas gave an astonishing 10-save performance against the then defending champions Bayern Munich.
He has always been admired for his reflexes and is excellent at dealing with situations that leave him with very low reaction time. Navas will hope that with stars like Messi, Sergio Ramos, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and others, PSG can go on to win the Champions League this season.
#2 Christian Pulisic
Christian Pulisic has had a rather disappointing start to his new campaign at Chelsea this season. The American was COVID positive last month and when he finally started to gain fitness he suffered another injury. Many would have thought that under Thomas Tuchel Pulisic would be a regular starter given their relationship dates back to the Dortmund days, but that’s hardly been the case.
Pulisic was in the starting eleven for Chelsea’s opening Premier League game against Crystal Palace and scored a goal.
The United States international possesses an impressive turn of pace which allows him to drift into the box from wide areas. He has great feet while playing at half-turn and is usually creative with his one touch play in the final third. Frank Lampard, who himself was gifted with technical abilities, was a big fan of Pulisic during his time as Chelsea boss.
Injuries have made it hard for the American to consistently challenge for a starting berth at Chelsea but he has always been an inspirational substitute. Pulisic came through the ranks at Dortmund and was an important part of the trio that consisted of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and himself.
In his time at Dortmund, Pulisic scored 13 goals in 90 Bundesliga appearances, a feat he has bettered at Chelsea by scoring 14 in merely 53 Premier League games. Popularly known as “Captain America”, Pulisic has proved himself as an able-leader for the US men’s national team.
#1 Alphonso Davies
If Bayern Munich come looking for your signature when you’re just 18 and when Zlatan Ibrahimovic suggests you have a bright future, there really isn’t much left to debate. Alphonso Davies has done justice to every bit of expectation that any individual ever had of him. He’s the shining star at one of Europe’s biggest clubs and the list of admirers is just increasing.
Davies is a speedster and exploits that pace expertly to leave his opponents gasping on the field. A true definition of a modern full-back, he is adventurous and inventive while contributing in the final third and bold and clever on the defensive front. One of the most promising talents in Europe at the moment, Davies is the youngest Canadian to play for the national team.
The Canada international has been a regular threat moving forward this season and has provided two assists. For someone with that kind of pace, Davies is pretty nimble while dribbling past his opponents.
He has been putting in the hard yards for Julian Naglesmann’s side this season. His link-up play with Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala, who have also been deployed on the left side, has been crucial for Bayern’s fast counter-attacks.
Two years ago, Davies, in a 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona, embarrassed Nelson Semedo and made him look like an immobile object. Since then, Davies has cemented his position as one of the best modern day full-backs. In his 23 appearances for Canada’s national team, Davies already has 21 goal contributions. The sky is the limit for him.
