Every team needs that creative outlet in order to climb to the very top of the football.

We as fans have been blessed to witness some truly talented footballers over the years, some potentially more overlooked than others.

Attacking midfielders such as Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho transcended how a midfielder should approach the sport of football, and since then a plethora of creative talent have been tearing it up at the elite level.

It is very difficult to decide who has been the great attacking midfielder of the past 25 years, but a live graphic uploaded on Twitter has answered it for us.

Using data from Transfermarkt, a top 9 list has been created to determine the top 10 attacking midfielders in terms of goals and assists.

There are some rather surprising admissions to say the least.

A certain German Gunner who has been prone to heavy criticism in recent years features high up the list.

Whilst a graceful Frenchman who many consider to be the greatest midfielder of all time does not even make the top 9.

Mesut Ozil came in at a handsome third place, with only Brazilian greats Ronaldinho and Rivaldo above his total of 299.

Manchester United wizard Juan Mata is struggling to get into Solskjaer's starting eleven, however the Spaniard managed to come seventh on the list.

Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane was a surprise exclusion, with his total tally of 209 not enough to make the top 10.

Dutchmen Rafael Van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder both made the list, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.

Kaka was sandwiched in between them in fifth.

Marco Reus props up the list in ninth, which is an impressive feat taking into consideration the amount of injury problems the German has had.

David Silva is the third Premier League player to feature with Manchester City playmaker sitting in eighth.

Various world stars such as Juninho, Youri Djorkaeff, Mehmet Scholl and Thomas Hassler all featured briefly during the timeline but failed to make the final cut.