Do England have the best front three in world football? Vote on the contenders
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From Tom Rostance
BBC Sport
Even a World Cup Golden Boot winner the PFA Young Player of the Year, using 130 Premier League targets or help among the brightest young talents of football and every 103 minutes in the flight.
Can there be a front three in world soccer in the second than Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Jadon Sancho?
They are as fascinating as anything, was director Gareth Southgates assessment of Englands attacking options after beating Bulgaria previous month.
Sterling kane and Sancho have scored or assisted 120 targets involving them in the Premier League, Bundesliga and also for England. Can anybody in the world piece with a three-man strikeforce that is much superior?
Chart shows combined targets and assists for three chosen players per state from the beginning of this 2018-19 season to Tuesday October 2019 in internationals and league matches.
With formations and group selections making a direct comparison tricky, this is not an exact science. But we have picked on a leading three for each country in the best 10 of their Fifa rankings and you can vote in the base for the best.
Southgate took England into the World Cup playing with a back three with Kane and then Sterling up front. But he has since changed using Borussia Dortmunds Sancho replacing the Marcus Rashford for the win from Kosovo, their latest game of Manchester United. These three now appear to be the managers first-choice assault.
No other group in Europe can beat the haul of 19 targets in Euro 2020 qualifying going into the internationals of this week of England – they are level by France and Belgium.
Sterling has outscored Kane for club and country – . His 12 goal involvements (goals and assists) are the most as the start of last season for any player we looked in around the top 10 countries on earth.
Sancho scored against Kosovo – his very first goals – and is definitely the player. His 19 league aids are twice the following best – Sterling – while his 132 completed he is place by dribbles 37 apparent.
Kane (26), Sterling (24) and Sancho (19) all have age on their side too. They are some of those strikeforces trio – by around two years – we looked at.
Belgium are the side in the planet so its perhaps no surprise that their choices are rich and varied. Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has performed on the best of the three at times – but he is being disregarded because he does when everyone is healthy and prefers to play.
Dries Mertens, eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku have started the most internationals since the start of last season in order that they get the nod to us.
Hazard has had his injury problems last summer, since leaving Chelsea he remains a attacker – no additional participant we looked at has created more opportunities. Lukaku might have suffered a last year – and he doesnt produce much for people around him – but he knows where the aim is.
He averages a goal every 58 minutes to Belgium. No other player on our listing has scored more goals that were global .
World Cup holders and ranked number two from the world – France might have the ideal power in depth in world soccer. Somewhere in the offices of LEquipe somebody may have place Monaco striker Wissam Ben Yedder within their version of the piece ahead of Olivier Giroud et Twist – .
But Giroud – despite playing for Chelsea in the Premier League – remains first selection for Les Bleus, starting 11 internationals. Of all of the forward, in fact we looked at only team-mate Antoine Griezmann and Brazils Roberto Firmino have begun in that moment.
The Kylian Mbappe of paris St-Germain polished at the World Cup and stays a talent. Not Lionel Messi could match his team record of a goal every 77 minutes.
When matched love him or despise him Neymar remains the principal man for Brazil. He missed a great deal of games last year with a foot injury but still weighed in with nearly a goal per match for Paris St-Germain from the French league, and he won his 100th global cap on Thursday against Senegal. Hes 61 goals on the all-time record – just behind Ronaldo and Pele for his country. Since the start of last season hes seven assists for Brazil – over any other forward these top 10 nations were analysed for by us.
Who should play alongside Neymar? Liverpools own Roberto Firmino has started 15 times for Brazil in the past 14 weeks, with Gabriel Jesus of both Manchester City and Richarlison of Everton sharing that the third place most frequently. Jesus gets us the nod as hes scored eight goals in that time compared Richarlisons six. Tough lines.
He might be 34 but Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 93 goals for Portugal and shows no indication of slowing .
Portugal have tended to play the side of Ronaldo – AC Milans Andre and Manchester Citys Bernardo – . Andre Silva may have been packaged off on loan to clubs in Germany and Spain but stays a man for his country. Hes actually played games for Portugal because the beginning of last season compared to Ronaldo.
Bernardo Silva is much more of a midfielder but plays wide right of a three and has five assists in his past 10 caps.
The summer atletico Madrid paid # 113m for adolescent Joao Felix and he started Portugals last game – but he has yet to score for his country at three looks.
We are shoehorning a bit here Uruguay and Edinson Cavani a pairing that is regimented and Luis Suarez played with a in the Copa America. Former Middlesbrough man Cristhian Stuani and those two will be the men but are all 32 years old – .
Old but gold – that the trio stay deadly at League degree. Cavani is Paris St-Germains goalscorer and his shots on goal to goals record is ridiculous in Ligue 1. They move in the net or in the stands.
Suarez remains a focus for Barcelona and is the imaginative one of the trio. On top of the chances he lays on at the Nou Camp, the former Liverpool man has created chances for Uruguay (13) than the other two combined.
Spains assault is in a state of transition. While Suso, Mikel Isco and Oyarzabal have played in attack in recent matches arsenal midfielder Dani Ceballos began at three last month against Romania.
We have gone with goalscorers that have started at least five internationals in the past season – Atletico Madrids Alvaro Morata, Rodrigo of Valencia and Iago Aspas of Celta Vigo. Aspas and Rodrigo began both matches in last years Nations League against England.
Problems here – Croatia only really play one up front and former Leicester man Andrej Kramaric is out with an injury right now. Bruno Petkovic is your second cab off the rank – hes scored two in five appearances for the World Cup finalists recently. But as he plays his homeland for Dinamo Zagreb – maybe not in one of Europeslarge leagues – we do not have data because of his league accomplishments, though hes scored 20 goals in 43 games for club and country.
Another team confronting a phase with 33-year-old Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez not at the present squad but starters in the summertime Copa America. Falcao is hurt at the moment too.
Duvan Zapata deserves his own place in our trio and was outstanding for Atalanta final season.
And then theres Messi.
The one has been an enigma about the stage, playing alongside Paulo Dybala and Sergio Aguero this season at the Copa America but frozen since he was sent off against Chile. He retired in the scene.
Look to Barcelona at his numbers however – 37 targets, 91 shots on goal, 97 chances created. Despite often dropping deep to have on the ball he had more shots on goal from the league than any player we looked at, and Hazard made more opportunities. Mbappe (34) has been the only other man to score more than 30 league goals in the same period.
Dybala misses out on our selection since a) hes only scored six league goals for Juventus at 35 appearances, and b) Lautaro Martinez has scored nine goals in 10 starts for his country.
You have seen the data, and no doubt disagree with some of our choices.
Time to vote.
There was somebody out there who did take action and who could do it
Whos the best front three?
This election will close at 19:00 BST on Friday 11 October. You may vote only once.
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