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The Serie A, contrary to its popular perception as a dull and defensive league, happens to be one of the best football leagues in the world.
More and more teams in the league have placed an emphasis on attacking football in recent years. One prime example of that is Atalanta, who have been the top scoring team in the last three Serie A seasons.
Many world-class players have graced the Italian top flight over the years. Of course, the Serie A has featured some of the game's finest goalkeepers (Gianluigi Buffon, Dino Zoff) and defenders (Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti, Fabio Cannavaro, and more recently Javier Zanetti, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci).
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But the competition has also been home to many fine midfielders and strikers as well, like Marco van Basten, Roberto Baggio, Clarence Seedorf, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Francesco Totti, and more recently, Ciro Immobile, Federico Chiesa and Cristiano Ronaldo.
On that note, here's a look at the ten best players plying their trade in the Serie A at the moment:
#10 Theo Hernandez
Theo Hernandez is one of the most exciting young full-backs in the game at the moment.
Only 23, Hernandez has made over 80 appearances in two seasons with AC Milan, scoring 15 goals and providing 13 assists. The Frenchman was a key player last campaign. His 13 goal contributions helped Milan finish second in the Serie A and return to the Champions League after a long absence.
Hernandez has been linked with a move to PSG this summer, as left-back is a position that needs an upgrade in their roster. However, Milan have rejected an offer of €40 million from the Ligue 1 giants for their prized asset.
#9 Manuel Locatelli
Manuel Locatelli is arguably one of the best midfielders in the Serie A at the moment.
The 23-year-old played a key role in Italy's triumphant Euro 2020 campaign, scoring a brace against Switzerland. He has made close to 150 Serie A appearances for three different clubs, registering eight goals and 11 assists.
Locatelli has joined Juventus on a loan deal from Sassuolo this season. He will look to build on his exploits from the previous campaign as the Bianconeri seek a return to title-winning ways.
The Italy international is an Italian SuperCup winner with AC Milan, with whom he commenced his professional career in 2015-16.
#8 Giorgio Chiellini
Giorgio Chiellini is one of the best active defenders in the game at the moment. Italy's Euro 2020-winning captain has been at Juventus since 2005-06, and is the only Bianconeri player to appear in each of the club's nine successive Serie A triumphs between 2012 and 2020.
Now 37, Chiellini finds himself low down this list only because he has come off a wretched last two campaigns in the competition, making only 21 cumulative appearances due to injury.
The no-nonsense centre-back with over 400 Serie A appearances makes up for his lack of pace with strong tackles, positional awareness and aerial prowess. Incredibly, the Italian has won almost 100 Serie A matches under Juventus' returning manager Massimiliano Allegri.
Considering his pedigree and exploits in the competition, Juventus have recently agreed to a two-year extension with Chiellini that would keep him at the club till 2023.
#7 Edin Dzeko
Edin Dzeko has been a prolific goalscorer in the Serie A since his arrival at the Italian top flight during the summer of 2015.
The 35-year-old scored on his debut for Inter Milan in what was his 200th game in the Serie A. Dzeko has scored 86 goals and provided 40 assists in the competition. His best league campaign came with AS Roma in 2016-17, when he scored 29 goals to win the Capocannoniere award.
Dzeko, a two-time Premier League and Bundesliga winner, is one of the few players to have scored at least 50 league goals in three top-five leagues in Europe.
#6 Lorenzo Insigne
Lorenzo Insigne is one of the best wingers in the Serie A at the moment. Playing his 11th campaign in the competition, the diminutive 30-year-old has racked up over 300 appearances, scoring 86 goals and providing 65 assists.
The Euro 2020 winner with Italy is coming off his best Serie A campaign in 2020-21, tallying 26 goal contributions (19 goals, seven assists), even as Napoli narrowly missed out on a top-four finish on the last day of the season.
One of seven players to have scored 100 goals for the club, Lorenzo Insigne (110) is Napoli's fourth-most prolific scorer, 25 behind all-time top scorer Dries Mertens.
#5 Federico Chiesa
Federico Chiesa is one of the most exciting young wingers in the game. Only 23, the Euro 2020 winner has already appeared in more than 150 Serie A games, scoring 34 goals and assisting on 31 occasions.
On loan from Fiorentina, Chiesa was one of Juventus' best players during an underwhelming 2020-21 campaign, when their near decade-long Serie A stranglehold came to an end.
The diminutive winger will look to build on his exploits from the last campaign as Massimiliano Allegri's men seek to reassert their Serie A supremacy.
Chiesa also dazzled at Euro 2020, scoring in the Round-of-16 win against Austria and the semi-final against Spain, which Italy won in a shootout.
#4 Franck Kessie
Franck Kessie is one of the best goalscoring midfielders in the Italian top flight. He has scored 35 times in over 170 Serie A appearances with 21 of those strikes coming from the penalty spot.
Last season, the 24-year-old became the first Milan player in a decade to score more than ten penalties (11) in a Serie A campaign since a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovich.
Apart from his penalty-taking prowess, Kessie is a solid presence in the Milan midfield. He keeps the opposition's creative players in check and initiates the first line of press for his team. A quintessential box-to-box midfielder, Kessie acts as an additional centre-back when his team loses possession.
Despite being the subject of interest from the Premier League, the Ivorian recently admitted that he would like to end his career with the Serie A giants, saying:
"I am proud to have chosen Milan and it is not my intention to leave. On the contrary, I want to stay forever. I only want Milan; Maldini and Massara know my thoughts. I like it so much when the ultras sing: 'A President, there is only a President ... '. Well, I want to be for life."
#3 Ciro Immobile
Ciro Immobile has been a prolific scorer in the Serie A since making his debut in the competition for Juventus in the 2008-09 season.
Although he didn't score a league goal for the Bianconeri, Immobile recently became the fifth-quickest player to net 150 Serie A goals. The 31-year-old has scored over a hundred goals for his current club Lazio, whom he joined in the summer of 2015.
In 2019-20, Immobile became the first player since Gonzalo Higuain to score 36 times in a Serie A season. Thanks to his exploits, Lazio qualified for the Champions League that summer.
Immobile has also been a solid performer for Italy, playing all seven games in the Azzurri's triumphant Euro 2020 campaign and scoring two goals.
#2 Nicolo Barella
Nicolo Barella is one of the most exciting midfielders in the Serie A at the moment. The 24-year-old produced a dazzling 2020-21 campaign, scoring thrice and assisting nine times, as Inter Milan won their first Scudetto in more than a decade.
During the season, the Euro 2020 winner scored the Nerazzurri's landmark 5000th Serie A goal against his former club Cagliari Calcio, a game the eventual champions won 3-1.
Barella, who opened his 2021-22 Serie A campaign with an assist in the 4-0 win over Genoa, scored in the 2-1 win over Belgium in Italy's triumphant Euro 2020 campaign.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably one of the best players to have graced the beautiful game. Unsurprisingly, he is one of the best players in the Serie A too.
During a prolific three-season stint with Juventus, the 36-year-old has won two Serie A titles and a Capocannoniere award. He became the fastest player to score 100 goals for the Bianconeri in all competitions, during his first three seasons at the club.
Last Sunday, Ronaldo came off the bench and thought he had scored a late winner in the record champions' 2-2 draw at Udinese. However, the effort was ruled out for offside.
While there have been rumors linking him with an exit from Juventus this summer, the Portugal captain is just two games away from his 100th Serie A appearance. He also needs only 19 more strikes to join the 100-goal club. Both are feats he could achieve this campaign if he stays on in Turin this season.
