5 players shockingly omitted from the shortlist for FIFA's Best Player 2017 award

5) Dries Mertens (Napoli)

Dries Mertens

After a stellar season with Napoli in 2016/17, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that no major club tried to sign Dries Mertens. The Partenopei finished third in Serie A last season but take nothing away from the Belgian forward who lit up the Italian league.

28 goals and 9 assists is what Mertens finished with in the last league campaign. After Gonzalo Higuain was sold to Juventus for a record fee and Arkadiusz Milik tore his ACL on international duty, the burden fell on Mertens to lead the attack.

29 - Dries Mertens has had a hand in 29 goals in his 25 competitive games for Napoli in this calendar year (20 goals + 9 assists). Leading.

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) August 17, 2017

Standing a little over five-and-a-half feet tall, the 30-year-old Belgian formed a potent partnership with Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon in attack, ably assisted by Napoli veteran Marek Hamsik behind them.

Mertens eventually ended the season with 34 goals in all competitions.