EA Sports have released their top 100 player ratings for the upcoming release of FIFA 21.
After a few years of gradually unveiling their decisions in batches, the video game creators held no punches by releasing the top players all in one go on Thursday afternoon.
The key reveal was that Lionel Messi, despite being downgraded for the first time in four years, remained the top dog with a rating of 93 that held off Cristiano Ronaldo by a single mark.
Player ratings controversy
However, there was no shortage of controversy further down the list with some going as far as claiming that the FIFA 21 ratings are the least accurate that EA have ever published.
That's quite some claim and sure, there's always disputations with each year's statistics, but certain supporters have gone as far as creating a petition to change them this time around.
Some of the largest perturbations surround Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being slapped with a downgrade, while Jordan Henderson and Paul Pogba have both given an 86 rating.
Fans want change
That's not to mention the fact Jadon Sancho and Serge Gnabry only have 83 and 82 pace respectively and Timo Werner has inexplicably been downgraded after a 34-goal season.
But fear not, ladies and gentlemen, GIVEMESPORT are here to save the day because we've decided to take EA Sports' top 50 and design how we think it should have been constructed.
That's right, we're changing ratings and rankings where we see fit and the only rule is that we must only use players already chosen in the top 100 to avoid it becoming insanely complicated.
How the ratings should have looked
So, without further ado, here's the top 50 players on FIFA 21 that we really wanted:
50. Marco Verratti - 86
Original position: 52nd
Original rating: 86
49. Sergio Busquets - 86
Original position: 46th
Original rating: 87
48. Bernardo Silva - 86
Original position: 42nd
Original rating: 87
47. Romelu Lukaku - 86
Original position: 65th
Original rating: 85
46. Serge Gnabry - 86
Original position: 63rd
Original rating: 85
45. Antoine Griezmann - 86
Original position: 38th
Original rating: 87
44. Thiago Alcantara - 87
Original position: 66th
Original rating: 85
43. Keylor Navas - 87
Original position: 45th
Original rating: 87
42. Fabinho - 87
Original position: 44th
Original rating: 87
41. Hugo Lloris - 87
Original position: 48th
Original rating: 87
50-41 summary
For whatever reason, Bayern players seemed to be thrown under the bus in the FIFA 21 ratings and we've sought to correct that by elevating both Thiago and Gnabry by over 15 places.
You'll also notice that Roberto Firmino is missing and although we're the first people to admit that he's more than an out-and-out goal-scorer, we still don't think just nine league goals warranted an upgrade.
We've also given Lukaku the upgrade he deserved after an astonishing first season at Inter Milan, while Busquets and Griezmann deserve downgrades despite still warranting a place in the top 50.
40. Thomas Muller - 87
Original position: 49th
Original rating: 86
39. Wojciech Szczesny - 87
Original position: 40th
Original rating: 87
38. Heung-min Son - 87
Original position: 35th
Original rating: 87
37. Andrew Robertson - 87
Original position: 43rd
Original rating: 87
36. Jadon Sancho - 87
Original position: 34th
Original rating: 87
35. Luka Modric - 87
Original position: 29th
Original rating: 87
34. Paul Pogba - 87
Original position: 51st
Original rating: 86
33. Aymeric Laporte - 87
Original position: 39th
Original rating: 87
32. Bruno Fernandes - 87
Original position: 32nd
Original rating: 87
31. Angel Di Maria - 87
Original position: 33rd
Original rating: 87
40-31 summary
Fear not, FIFA players, we've solved the Pogba-Henderson issue by boosting the United maestro 17 places up the rankings to an 87 rating, though we hastened to add it's not by any fault of the Liverpool captain.
Meanwhile, we feel confident that players like Di Maria, Fernandes and Laporte should all be elevated above Modric, despite still deserving an 87 rating after winning another La Liga crown.
And there can be no denying that Muller deserves to be lifted from 86 to 87 after helping inspire Bayern to Champions League glory and amassing a staggering 21 Bundesliga assists.
30. Eden Hazard - 87
Original position: 22nd
Original rating: 88
29. Ciro Immobile - 87
Original position: 30th
Original rating: 87
28. Samir Handanovic - 88
Original position: 27th
Original rating: 88
27. Kalidou Koulibaly - 88
Original position: 28th
Original rating: 88
26. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 88
Original position: 31st
Original rating: 87
25. Ederson - 88
Original position: 25th
Original rating: 88
24. Joshua Kimmich - 88
Original position: 19th
Original rating: 88
23. Sergio Aguero - 88
Original position: 15th
Original rating: 89
22. Harry Kane - 88
Original position: 21st
Original rating: 88
21. Toni Kroos - 88
Original position: 20th
Original rating: 88
30-21 summary
We may have only lifted Aubameyang up five places, but we've given him the 88 rating he deserves after chasing the Premier League Golden Boot and scoring five crucial goals at Wembley.
We've also dished out one of the biggest downgrades to Aguero who, despite by no means having a terrible season with 23 goals, was highly overrated by the EA statisticians this year.
And yes, we have shovelled further misery on Hazard by augmenting his downgrade, but can you blame us when he's reportedly arrived at pre-season overweight after scoring just once during 2019/20?
20. Trent Alexander-Arnold - 88
Original position: 37th
Original rating: 87
19. Paulo Dybala - 88
Original position: 24th
Original rating: 88
18. Casemiro - 89
Original position: 17th
Original rating: 89
17. Thibaut Courtois - 89
Original position: 18th
Original rating: 89
16. Raheem Sterling - 89
Original position: 23rd
Original rating: 88
15. Alisson Becker - 89
Original position: 12th
Original rating: 90
14. Karim Benzema - 89
Original position: 16th
Original rating: 89
13. Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 90
Original position: 11th
Original rating: 90
12. Manuel Neuer - 90
Original position: 14th
Original rating: 89
11. Mohamed Salah - 90
Original position: 9th
Original rating: 90
20-11 summary
In EA's initial rankings, Kimmich found himself as the world's best right-back above Alexander-Arnold and by way of our opinion begging to differ, we just had to boost the Liverpool starlet deservingly up to 88.
We also think that Neuer deserves to be level-pegging with his compatriot Ter Stegen after arguably reinventing himself as the world's best goalkeeper during Bayern's romp to Champions League glory.
And yes, we have robbed Alisson of his original 90 rating because his 2019/20 season, albeit very impressive, didn't reach the heights of his stellar 2018/19 and thus cannot be worthy of an upgrade.
10. Sergio Ramos - 90
Original position: 13th
Original rating: 89
9. Sadio Mane - 90
Original position: 10th
Original rating: 90
8. Neymar - 90
Original position: 5th
Original rating: 91
7. Kylian Mbappe - 90
Original position: 8th
Original rating: 90
6. Virgil van Dijk - 91
Original position: 7th
Original rating: 90
5. Jan Oblak - 91
Original position: 6th
Original rating: 91
4. Kevin De Bruyne - 91
Original position: 4th
Original rating: 91
3. Lionel Messi - 92
Original position: 1st
Original rating: 93
2. Cristiano Ronaldo - 92
Original position: 2nd
Original rating: 92
1. Robert Lewandowski - 93
Original position: 3rd
Original rating: 91
Top ten summary
Look, this is no slight on Ronaldo nor Messi when I say that Lewandowski must be considered the world's best player after producing a Ballon d'Or-worthy season with 55 goals and the treble.
The omnipotent Pole ticks all the boxes there: silverware with his club, an astonishing individual contribution and you don't need to shuffle around the FIFA ratings too much to make it work.
Aside from that, we're pretty much in agreement with FIFA's top ten, aside from thinking Neymar should be on a par with Mbappe and that Ramos should sneak in after a mind-blowing 13 goals this season.
Lewandowski deserved to be top
So, there you have it, absolutely perfectly FIFA 21 ratings that can't be debated, disputed or protested against in any capacity because they're spot on, bang on the money and downright genius.
Ok, yeh, it goes without saying that FIFA ratings are ultimately subjective and I'm sure EA would disagree with our rankings as much as any gamers seem to be disagreeing with theirs.
As a result, I'm sure we can agree to disagree on this one, but surely, surely, Lewandowski should be considered the world's best player right now? Right? Right??????