2. Blaise Matuidi
Maybe not yet a household name, but anybody who has followed the French Ligue 1 or the Champions' League this season will have seen Matuidi driving Paris Saint-Germain to what seems to be the league title as well as a quarter final tie against Barcelona in Europe's premier competition. A player very much, in my opinion, in the mould of Chelsea's Ramires, the Frenchman has exceptional stamina and has featured in almost 60 games already having been at PSG only since the summer of 2011- he is one of the first names on the newly oil rich French giants and he has also featured in 11 games for his national side since 2010. Before he signed for PSG, Liverpool, then under the stewardship of current England manager Roy Hodgson, were
rumoured to be interested in signing him from Saint Etienne, only for the club to then remove their interest- a decision, may I add, they may now be regretting after seeing his remarkable progress, but this progress may see him capable of fitting seamlessly into the Anfield engine room were Gerrard to move on.