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After your voting to find the top striker in La Liga, our Spanish Correspondent Matt Allen concludes our focus in finding the best player in Spain and crowns the 2008 TF90M Spanish League Player of the Year. The visitors to thefirst90minutes.com picked David Villa as the best striker in Spain and I can only agree with them. His goal to game ratio is simply outstanding, he managed to score 18 league goals in 27 games, even when Valencia massively underachieved Villa still emerged with a fantastic goal tally. Before I make a decision on the best player in Spain, I feel it is essential to make the point that 4 out of the 5 players are Spanish. This is an impressive number and something that the English Premier League could only dream of, if this was in the Premiership I don’t think I’d even have Steven Gerrard on my list with midfielders such as Ronaldo prowling around. Casillas, Ramos, Senna and Villa are all fantastic footballers and it showcases Spain’s unbelievable depth in talent. The youth systems in Spanish clubs are obviously working wonders and the League’s high proportion of Spanish players is testament to that. Maybe the English Club teams should apply some of the Spanish Clubs techniques in developing young talent. The final shortlist: Casillas, Ramos, Senna, Messi and Villa. Since the shortlist has come out the new La Liga season has started with a bang. So much has happened already and unfortunately this rules one player out of winning the title of the TF90M Spanish League Player of the Year award. During the 08/09 season Sergio Ramos has seen a huge dip in form, suggestions that he has lost a huge amount of money on the stock exchange could explain his poor form. Consistency is a key factor when deciding who is the best player and Ramos has not shown this. Senna was in my opinion, the less obvious choice as the best midfielder. He is an underrated player but unfortunately he doesn’t measure up to Casillas, Messi and Villa. Senna’s fantastic performance last year gives him a deserved 4th place. The top three are all fantastic footballers and it is difficult to make a decision. Casillas was hailed as the best goalkeeper in Spain last year and he undoubtedly is, I would go as far to say that he is the best goalkeeper in the world - arguably taking the title from Buffon. However, he is not the perfect goalkeeper. His only weakness is his handling of crosses, his aerial ability is still very good but not world class and this is why I cannot give him the title. If I was to give the title to a goalkeeper, he would have to be the perfect goalkeeper because it is difficult to praise a clean sheet as you would praise a hat-trick…no offence to Goalkeepers in general. David Villa is the best striker in Spain, but for how long. He’s showed his commitment to Valencia and denied himself the move to Real Madrid - a mistake or spot on? Only time can decide. It is hard to determine whether Valencia can assist Villa in his quest to become the world’s best striker. So far, a great job has been done and he is arguably already there; his goal tally is unbelievable and this is why it is so difficult to give him second place. However, losing to Leo Messi is no shame. Maybe next year, David Villa will win the title, he certainly has the talent to but eclipsing Messi will be no easy feat. Leo Messi is the best player in Spain. He does not score as many goals as Villa, he does not make as many tackles as Senna or Ramos and he probably isn’t as consistent as Casillas…but his ability to entertain is second to none…he posseses something that only Maradona has possessed before. It is a certain X factor that I cannot describe, but when you watch him with the ball it’s mesmerising. If Messi played 50 games per season for the last two years and wasn’t plagued with injuries as he has been, he would’ve unanimously been declared the best player in the world and probably would’ve overtaken Ronaldo’s scoring record. This player is not just world class, he is more than that, he is a player that you only see once every 50 years. Messi is the best player in Spain!
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