86. Santi Cazorla

"Have you seen Santi Cazorla? You think I'm small? He's up to here on me and he's brilliant."

Xavi Hernandez, as quoted by Sid Lowe in a 2012 Guardian article.

The relevance is that, like the Barcelona icon, traditional thinking suggests Cazorla should be too small to operate in central midfield. He's slender and slight, technical and creative. He was all of those things in 2016, but most often – and unexpectedly – from deep. The arrival of Mesut Ozil and then Alexis Sanchez seemed to signify the end of his Arsenal career, but Cazorla has instead been repurposed as a line-breaking deep-lying playmaker and recommissioned by Arsene Wenger to guard the side's temperament and direct its attacking focus.

In spite of all the logical caveats, it turns out he was just the right size for that hole. Arsenal have recently found a rhythmic balance that they haven't had for many years, with Cazorla’s broad and brilliant skill set helping them to strike those key notes. – SSB

85. Andrea Barzagli

Every year Andrea Barzagli is written off, and every year he patiently proves everyone wrong. The 35-year-old sees pretenders arrive to take his place in the Juventus backline and swats them away like flies; with his contract extended once again, we can expect that to continue in the next 12 months.

It’s easy to dismiss Barzagli as makeweight in the famous back three (with Gianluigi Buffon behind them) that comprise Juventus and Italy’s defensive unit. It’s easy, but it’s wrong. While the prestige went to Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, Barzagli was arguably the best – certainly the most consistent – defender in Serie A last season. His unsung good work continued in Italy’s impressive Euro 2016 showing under his old Bianconeri boss, Antonio Conte.

In January 2011, a 7th-placed Juventus paid £300,000 for Barzagli’s services. Since that season, they’ve won five consecutive Scudetti. The two facts aren’t totally unrelated. – H. Davies

84. Javier Hernandez

Now in his second season in Germany, Javier Hernandez’s goalscoring record is the envy of strikers across Europe, having notched 33 times in 58 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen.

His goalscoring pedigree is no surprise; he's Mexico's second-highest goalscorer of all time and, despite leaving Manchester United in September 2014 (initially on loan to Real Madrid), his goals-per-minute ratio remains fourth-best in the Premier League behind Sergio Aguero, Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

An impressive debut season was followed by an explosive start to 2016/17, with seven goals in his first eight appearances. They may have dried up of late – his last came in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund at the beginning of October – but the Mexican may well earn himself another big-money move if he continues on his current trajectory.

Bayer will do their best to cling on to the player they label as their “life insurance”, though, such has been the 28-year-old's effect in North Rhine-Westphalia since his surprise arrival in 2015. – H. Drudge

Next: The Premier League record-breaker