Héctor Bellerín     21     Defender     Arsenal     Spain

Skinny

What do we say? 21 years old and already one of the best in his position in world football. If Arsenal hadn’t offered such a meek title challenge last year this could very well have been an A. Next year? We’ll see.

He ends 2016 in wonderful form, a full Spanish international, new contract signed with a well-deserved wage rise, and in the first team of an Arsenal who just might be the real deal. Very impressive and getting better year on year.

2016 has been…

…excellent, tough to fault really, if only he had some silverware to show for it.

This young man isn’t going anywhere is he? The Barcelona rumours have been persistent but it never felt like he was going and we make him right. We’ve said it before about players on this very list; happiness is an under rated commodity.

He’s at home in London, a huge part of Arsenal’s season to date and now in the thinking for one of the toughest squads in international football - why change a thing?

This season he’s put on a little muscle and no longer gets bossed by the Premier League’s tougher wingers. He has the speed to get him out of trouble but he rarely finds himself in any. A rare thing these days to find a balanced full-back, one as happy defending as attacking, but Béllerín makes headlines going forward whilst breaking winger’s hearts at the back. Only going to get better from what we’ve seen, Arsenal may need to keep giving him those new contracts…

What’s next?

The contract has put pay to any transfer nonsense, just keep doing exactly what you’re doing in this case. As you may have guessed we like Béllerín a lot (a legacy of picking promising full-backs for this list who fail to deliver on early promise) but the level of consistency he’s achieved at such a young age is staggering.

Rarely less than a 7 out of 10 performance, more often than not an 8 or higher, we wish there were more Hector Béllerín’s all over the pitch in truth.

So Arsenal need to continue to keep this young man happy and we hope that means they find a way of getting past the inherent Arsenal-ness of themselves and get over one of the harder finish lines in May - if not this year than next. He seems to thrive in the hustle and bustle of the Premier League where the standard may not be consistent but the scheduling is, shift heaven and earth if needs be to keep that up.

So nearly the full package - form, physicality, maturity, international recognition - what’s missing? The medal to get him to that A grade. We wonder if that will still be missing next year.

B     So, so close to an A, one triumphant trophy lift away, one of the very best players on this list, hell, one of the very best players in the Premier League