James Rodriguez, Eden Hazard, and Neymar are three players who have been crucial to their teams’ attack. All three players who dawn the number 10 jersey for their country have different styles of play, but each of them contribute to their team in a way no other can.
Rodriguez joined Real Madrid after his brilliant performances at the World Cup in Brazil. Although he has only spent one year at the club, it didn’t take him long to set himself up at the Bernabeu.
Although Madrid had a trophy-barren spell last year, he ended up as one of La Liga’s top five assisters. The only player better than him in that department were Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Luis Suarez. The previous year in Ligue 1, the Colombian was on par with Paris-Saint Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in terms of assists.
Hazard won the PFA Best Player of the year last season. He was a crucial part of Chelsea’s Premier League winning team under manager Jose Mourinho where he helped Chelsea score 14 and set up nine of their 72 goals.
Hazard is renowned for his quick feet and his efficiency for getting past players. The player’s successful dribble rate is so good that he is considered to be on par with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo.
Neymar has been with Barcelona for two seasons now before which he was Brazilian-based team Santos’ star player. The 23-year-old helped his side win their historic second treble last campaign. Neymar is one of world’s best player at the moment and is renowned for his fancy dribbling skills.
Although he didn’t shine the year he joined, along with Suarez and Messi the winger went on to score 39 times across all competitions in the following season.
With the commencement of the new campaign, Hazard has not yet made any valuable contribution for his team in the four games that has already been played where as Neymar who was suffering from mumps, is to yet return to 100 percent match fitness. James, on the other hand, has already scored two goals for Real Madrid and has assisted one in the process.
League statistics since 2013
Players | Goals | Assists | Key Passes | Successful Dribbles (%) |
James Rodriguez | 22 | 25 | 166 | 49 |
Eden Hazard | 28 | 16 | 206 | 64 |
Neymar | 31 | 15 | 100 | 50 |
From the above-mentioned stats, it can be seen that James is a player who specializes in creating chances while Neymar is a clinical player who fetches a lot of goals. Hazard, on the other hand, is a person who can get past player and create spaces for others to score although he does need to work on the scoring department himself.