The Guardian have listed their top 100 footballers of 2016 and Alexis Sanchez is the first Premier League player to make an appearance on the list in ninth place.
The football writers at the publication picked Critisano Ronaldo as their best player of 2016 with Lionel Messi at number 2.
Sanchez comes in at number 9 before he is followed by a number of other Premier League stars.
As he is the highest ranked, he is therefore named as the best in the division.
Try not to choke laughing at where they put Laurent ‘one of the best centrebacks in Europe’ Koscielny)
Top 20 footballers of 2016 according to the Guardian:
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Lionel Messi
- Luis Suarez
- Antoine Griezman
- Neymar
- Gareth Bale
- Robert Lewandowski
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
- Alexis Sanchez
- Riyad Mahrez
- Sergio Aguero
- Luka Modric
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Gonzalo Higuain
- Andres Iniesta
- N’Golo Kante
- Paul Pogba
- Manuel Neur
- Jamie Vardy
- Zlatan Ibrahimovich (LOLS)
Other Arsenal players on the list:
23. Mesut Ozil
68. Laurent Koscielny (only one place better than Sadio Mané)
73. Aaron Ramsey
97. Santi Cazorla
Hector Bellerin was not included. True story.
The first Liverpool player to make an appearance is Philippe Coutinho at 28.
Tottenham don’t get a player in the list until 33 when Harry Kane pops up (Dele Alli is 90).