As soon as you play in the Premier League, you can guarantee that you'll be idolised by thousands of fans.

Unless you make a particularly egregious life decision, it's pretty safe to assume that your new lease of limelight will see the fanbase of the team you play for chanting your name from the terraces.

And even if you proceed to ditch them for one of their biggest rivals, there's always another fanbase waiting with open arms to drown out the heckling with their calls of support.

However, there are some footballers that achieve the unique distinction of being loved by the supporters of various clubs, transcending allegiances to earn universal praise.

Some of the finest examples in the modern era are players like Fernando Torres, Peter Crouch, Andrea Pirlo, Ronaldinho, Gianluigi Buffon and Philipp Lahm just to name a few.

But what about contemporary Premier League players? Well, although we're sure some names have already come to mind, there's a very convenient way we can answer this question.

That's because Transfermarkt have a 'most popular players' section where football fans are asked to pick between two randomly generated stars based on who they prefer.

Over time, players have racked up hundreds and thousands of votes, so we couldn't help finding out which of them earned a place in the top 20. Check out the most popular players down below:

20. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) - 65%

19. Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) - 65%

18. Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) - 65%

17. Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - 65%

16. Joao Moutinho (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 66%

15. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) - 66%

14. Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City) - 67%

13. Leonardo Campana (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 67%

12. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) - 67%

11. Alisson Becker (Liverpool) - 68%

10. Leroy Sane (Manchester City) - 69 %

9. David Silva (Manchester City) - 69%

8. Sadio Mane (Liverpool) - 69%

7. David de Gea (Manchester United) - 69%

6. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) - 69%

5. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) - 70%

4. Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) - 71%

3. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) - 72%

2. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 74%

1. N'Golo Kante (Chelsea) - 75%

Kante named number one

Could there be any other player at number one? Of course not.

Perhaps the biggest surprise for us is that Kante doesn't have a bigger lead at the top and we can only imagine that his 25% of rejections were from fans backing players from their own club.

Kante is one of the most loved athletes in the world for his rags to riches story and remaining humble despite becoming a millionaire, Premier League champion and World Cup winner.

He's the type of guy to spend the evening watching Match of the Day with Chelsea fans and drive into training after a car accident without having paid for the repairs. You just love to see it. 

Salah is also worthy of his place in the top three and especially for setting such a fine example to African footballers, which is no doubt where most of his backing will have come from.

Kane and Van Dijk are probably a little higher than we would have expected, but then who can look past Vardy making the top five with his rise from Non-League and unforgettable quotes?

So, in this tough and uncertain time, let us raise a glass to these players who, through their humility and downright agreeability, are loved by just about everybody in English football.