The Premier League’s Best Eleven Non-European Players

By Eric Beard

The PFA recently announced their team of the year, which comprised of Joe Hart, Branislav Ivanovic, Richard Dunne, Thomas Vermaelen, Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia, Cesc Fabregas, Darren Fletcher, James Milner, Didier Drogba, and Wayne Rooney. While all these players have all done well enough to deserve their recognition, I couldn’t help but notice that only two players (Drogba and Valencia) were not of European origin. Drogba is, of course, the captain of the Ivory Coast, while Valencia plays for Ecuador.

As the Premier League is so proud to call itself the world’s most watched league, I thought it would be proper to recognize the best eleven players who are not from Europe. And I even left out Drogba and Valencia to show how much class there is. As you can see, the Non-European best eleven would certainly put up a fight against the PFA’s team of the year. My reasoning is below.

Forwards

Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez have been perhaps the Premier League’s most prolific scoring duo, and a good reason why City are still in the fight for 4th is because of the brilliance of the Togolese and Argentinean strikers. The two have scored a combined 35 Premier League goals (Tevez with 22, and Adebayor with 13), and you must remember that Adebayor missed quite a bit of action because of the chaos that erupted during the African Cup of Nations in Angola.

Hugo Rodallega, though not as consistent as Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, has done remarkably well in his first year in the Premiership. The 24-year-old Colombian has played in every game for the Latics, and has scored ten Premier League goals.

Midfielders

Michael Essien is just an honourable mention in the midfield because of his injury-ridden season, but when healthy the Ghanaian is one of the best centre-midfielders in the world. Even without Essien, the non-European midfield is still class. Alex Song has had a breakout year for Arsenal, while Tim Cahill has also shown why he is an idol in Australia. Wingers Clint Dempsey and Steven Pienaar will be sure to shine at this summer’s World Cup, as they are currently having their best ever seasons.

Landon Donovan is an honourable mention simply because in his seven Premier League games with Everton he scored two goals and supplied three assists, not to mention he was crucial in bringing the Toffees out of their miserable form and into the fight for a spot in the Europa League.

Defenders

Chelsea’s Alex showed us in the 7-0 victory over Stoke why he is a world-class defender. Physically dominant, but still technically superb, Alex is definitely one of the Premier League’s best. Honduran defender Maynor Figueroa has also done very, very well for Wigan. Attracting interest from some of the bigger clubs in Europe, I don’t think you’ll see him back at the JJB stadium, especially after he partakes in the World Cup. Tottenham’s defence has been excellent throughout this year’s campaign, and while much of that credit rightfully goes to Michael Dawson, Benoît Assou-Ekotto has also been in incredible form. Sharing time with Gary Neville at right-back, the Brazilian Rafael da Silva, who is still only 19, has been maturing quickly at Manchester United. Fellow United defender Patrice Evra has said that Rafael will become a United great. His season may have been overshadowed by a red card that may have cost United the Champions League, but overall Da Silva has been a trusted asset for Fergie.

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart has done well on loan with Birmingham City this season, however, I think that Mark Schwarzer and Brad Friedel have done just as well, if not better, for Fulham and Aston Villa, respectively. Schwarzer has been a main reason why Fulham has progressed so far in the Europa League, while Friedel has been arguably the most reliable goalkeeper in the Premier League. Tim Howard also goes down as an honourable mention for another stellar season with Everton. Although the American’s side may not qualify for Europe, Howard is responsible for saving Everton from dropping massive amount of points during their first half of the season filled with injuries.