A good many players most fans have hardly heard of will take soccer's
centre stage in less than a week as the 2012 European Championships
kick off in Poland and Ukraine.
They will be mixing with some of
the most famous names in the game and every one of them, truth be known,
will have two objectives. Of course they will want to help their
country win the second most important crown in the international game.
But they also know this is the perfect stage to display their individual
talents, to attract attention from the world's greatest clubs, to test
themselves against the best. Rest assured, hundreds of millions of fans
will be tuning in around the world along with the men who make hiring
and firing decisions on domestic scenes from Moscow to London, from
Munich to Madrid. These men will be the dark horses, for history shows
the players most likely to shine are those who already hog the
limelight. My selection of 10 men to watch in the next month attempts to
mix the two.
10 players to watch at EURO 2012
1. Robin Van Persie (Netherlands)
- is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Arsenal and the Dutch national team. He is a youth product of Feyenoord. Having joined Arsenal in 2004, Van Persie became the club captain on 16 August 2011.His playing style and ability have drawn comparison to Dutch legend Marco van Basten.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
- plays as a winger or striker for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and is the captain of the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth £80 million (€93.9 million/$131.6 million). In addition, his contract with Real Madrid, in which he is paid €12 million per year, makes him one of the highest-paid footballers in the world,and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.
3. Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
- plays for German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund as a striker, having previously played for Delta Warsaw, Legia Warsaw, Znicz Pruszków and Lech Poznań. He has been capped by Poland at international level.
4. Yann M'Vila (France)
- plays for French club Rennes in Ligue 1. He operates as a defensive midfielder and is described by his club as a player who possesses "excellent defensive abilities" and "impressive physical strength".He is the younger brother of Yohan M'Vila, who plays for Ligue 1 club Dijon.
5. Wayne Rooney (England)
- plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team. Rooney made his senior international debut in 2003 becoming the youngest player to represent England.
6. Luka Modric (Croatia)
- plays for Tottenham Hotspur and for the Croatia national team. Modrić's childhood coincided with the Croatian War of Independence.
7. Mario Goetze (Germany)
- plays as an attacking midfielder for Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga and the German national team. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder and a right winger.
8. Mario Balotelli (Italy)
- plays as a striker for Manchester City and the Italian national team. He started his professional football career at Lumezzane and played for the first team twice before having an unsuccessful trial at FC Barcelona,and subsequently joining Internazionale in 2007. Inter manager Roberto Mancini brought Balotelli into the first team, but when Mancini left, Balotelli's disciplinary record fell away. He had a strained relationship with new head coach José Mourinho and was suspended from Inter's first team in January 2009 after a number of disciplinary problems.
9. Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
- plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team. Iniesta came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, and impressed from an early age.
10. Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic)
- plays for Arsenal and captains the Czech national team. He has a brother named Jiří who was also a footballer. A classical playmaker nicknamed "The Little Mozart", Rosický is known for his skill and his ability to orchestrate the midfield with his passing. Arsène Wenger described him as a player with remarkable vision and first touch.
