Most underrated footballers of 2021

As football players try their utmost on the pitch to impress as brilliantly as possible they begin to gain recognition for their work.

A football team consists of 11 players, and each and every one of them might play an indispensable role in the functionality of the team. Therefore it is crystally clear that just a few of them might get their due recognition and many tend to go underlooked.

After all, Football is also suffused with some geniuses who have escaped the hype and fervour that surround the Peles and Maradonas of the world. These talented players are categorized as underrated footballers who although they utterly deserve the utmost acknowledgement and respect, have not received that much credit.

You don't have to look very far to find out the reason why they have been underrated, that is simply because they are unlucky enough to play at the wrong time for the wrong team, overshadowed by bigger names, forgotten as not much valuable members to a winning team or just are not that much recognised.

Whenever the subject of underrated footballers is raised, many tend to count down some legends of the world throughout history who are mostly retired, hence having their names indicated, would not honestly lead to the increase of even their fame.

But the fact is there are currently many prodigies in the world that speaking their words would actually bring up some sort of the change in as much as they might be provided with much more opportunities and they might be compensated for the lack of credit they deserve.

In this respect, we have provided a list of the most underrated footballers of 2021. But remember this is not an exhaustive and inflexible list of the players, therefore your comment below with underrated players who you believe should have been on the list, might be really appreciated.

Most underrated footballers of 2021

You would go through an engaging ride through the list of the most underrated footballers of 2021.

Luis Muriel

• Full name

  : Luis Fernando Muriel Fruto

• Date of birth

  : Apr 16, 1991

Luis Muriel is a fantastic asset for

who is thriving fascinatingly in Seria A while he is regarded as one of the most underrated footballers of 2021.

In his professional career, he has played for clubs like Deportivo Cali, Udinese, Granada, Lecce, Sampdoria, Sevilla and

either on loan or permanent deals. And in June 2019, he got contracted with Serie A club Atalanta for a reported €18m.

Besides, he represented the Colombian national team with his senior debut in June 2012 in a World Cup qualifying match against Ecuador and then put away his first goal in the next year against Guatemala. He also participated in the 2015 and 2019 editions of the Copa América, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Having performed precociously in his youth career in Italy, which led him to win Serie A Best Young Revelation Award in 2012 earned him so much praise although he is considered as one of the most underrated footballers right now.

Many believe that every time he gets a chance, he scores in as much as he has everything including, pace, strength, shooting, eye for goal, agility, creativity and versatility, but he seems to be unlucky to not have a better career than he has right now.

Some argued that the reason why he has not gained further advancement is his suffering from weight issues and poor fitness. While others technically consider his weakness in aerial battles, his missing sitters and his susceptibility to make mistakes the underlying reasons for his underestimation.

But, the real nub of the matter is that his weaknesses are thoroughly covered up by his strengths, which have primarily focused on precise finishing and long shots, yet he is still among the

top 10 underrated footballers of 2021

.

Domenico Berardi

• Full name

  : Domenico Berardi 

• Date of birth

  : 1 August 1994

Domenico Berardi is one of the

standout stars who plays in the position of the attacker. His club journey was started with Sassuolo in 2012, as he helped the team win the Serie B title and promote to Serie A in his debut season, while it earned him being named the best player in the competition.

His stellar performances in Serie A saw him appear as one of Italy's most promising young footballers, as he was also granted the Bravo Award in 2015. He is recognized as one of Sassuolo's record goal-scorer with over 100 goals.

Berardi was among the Italian under-19 national team and under-21 national team. And in the second group match for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21, he put away his team's only goal in a 3–1 defeat to the Czech Republic.

He is a player of immense talent with excellent finishing and off the ball work rate to find the ball in great positions on the field. Although Berardi is adored as one of the most gifted and promising young footballers of his generation, he is included among

the most underrated footballers right now

.

And the reason behind it might be Sassuolo’s state as a competitive club, his injuries and even his lack of discipline in regularly picking up unnecessary yellow cards.

Be that as it may, he has a great future ahead of him to potentially turn into one of the best individual Serie A players of all time, apart from being listed among our top 10 underrated footballers of 2021.

Filip Kostic

• Full name

  : Filip Kostić

• Date of birth

  : 1 November 1992

Filip Kostic is revered as one of the best attackers in the Bundesliga at the moment, having flourished in the club of Eintracht Frankfurt.

During his club career, he played for clubs like Radnički Kragujevac, Groningen, VfB Stuttgart and Hamburger SV before joining

in the summer of 2018.

He has achieved monumental success with the club as has been superb in the recent seasons while brilliantly illustrating his capability of scoring and creating.

His unique ability to marry attacking and defensive duties without an ounce of protestation coupled with his versatility, even makes him more valuable which leads him to be capable of playing as a left-winger or as a left wing-back.

At the international level, in 2014 he registered a debut assist for Serbia in a friendly against Azerbaijan and played in all three of his country's group matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

He has a total of seven senior international assists and two goals in back-to-back 2018 World Cup qualifiers with the Republic of Ireland and Moldova anchored to his name.

Nowadays when most wingers are deployed as wide forwards, he is a rather distinguished player who hugs the touchline and bombs up and down the pitch with his immense stamina.

Capable of playing anywhere on the left flank, even as a left wing-back, he would be a useful addition to any team in the Premier League, most specifically Arsenal.

Yet he is supposed to be among

the most underrated footballers of 2021

perhaps because he was initially a maligned figure at Hamburger SV, where he failed big time.

But hardened by years of experience at the highest level of football, he has done really good at his current club and would be certainly an appealing target for

if they are to enhance their attacking armoury.

Gerard Moreno

• Full name

  : Gerard Moreno Balagueró

• Date of birth

  : 7 April 1992

Gerard Moreno is a Spanish professional striker who currently plays for

CF and the Spain national team. He has been regarded as one of La Liga’s most consistent goalscorers for a long time, particularly after that he got a lot of attention in 2019 when he won the Zarra trophy, which is given to the Spaniard with the most goals in La Liga.

In his club journey, after impressing with

, he came back to his boyhood club Villarreal in 2018, where he has since elevated his game further.

Moreno is a technical and physically qualified striker, who can act as a target man for long balls but is more possibly found on the shoulder of either centre-back. He moves brilliantly, often staying in the channels between centre-back and full-back or between centre-backs as he also gains separation from the defender in these channels.

Such a prolific goalscorer in the top division is now at the peak of his powers, yet he has been sometimes overlooked and is among our top 10 underrated footballers of 2021.

Notwithstanding his presence in the list of the

most underrated football players of 2021

, presumably, he would be provided with the opportunity to potentially play a huge part in the Euros this summer for La Roja, as he still would step up even further if a bigger team took interest in him.

Danny Ings

• Full name

  : Daniel William John Ings

• Date of birth

  : 23 July 1992

Danny Ings is an English professional forward who currently plays for Premier League club Southampton and the England national team.

Ings started his career in the youth team of

and played for clubs like AFC Bournemouth, Dorchester Town, Burnley which he won the 2013–14 Championship Player of the Year with them, and led them to promote to the Premier League.

After that, he moved to

in 2015, but in the face of his debilitating injuries and the fascinating front three of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, he never got a consistent stint with the first team.

And these are the underlying reasons for having his name among the list of the

most underrated footballers of 2021

. Then after 3 unfortunate seasons at Liverpool, he went on loan to Southampton in 2018/19.

But, as soon as he started proving his worth with his stellar performance that season, the Saints made his deal permanent for a whopping 18 million pounds. Since then, he has played some outstanding games, leading the line well for the Saints as he has utterly illustrated how lethal he is in front of goal.

Considering all of these and in spite of the fact that he is assumed to be among the most underrated footballers right now, he would certainly be in the England picture for this summer’s Euros.

Raphael Guerreiro

• Full name

  : Raphaël Adelino José Guerreiro

• Date of birth

  : 22 December 1993 

Raphael Guerreiro is a famous name in European football, as the Portuguese wing-back moved to

in 2016 after playing for clubs like Caen and Lorient.

Since then he has shown both consistency and progress as he has played a major role in Dortmund’s strategy and success. Performing at the highest level in different positions, he is involved in numerous various moments of the game and that often makes a spectacular statistical profile.

He is arguably one of the most unsung heroes of Borussia Dortmund's rise to the top of the Bundesliga, but his contribution to their success is undeniable, yet he is considered to be one of the

most underrated footballers of 2021

.

He is the kind of player who once preferred the regular opportunity of playing in Borussia Dortmund over being an ideal unused stopgap in

.

And although previously his injuries limited him to just a handful of appearances, the UEFA EURO 2016 winner has managed to produce some of his finest football.

Raphael Guerreiro is a versatile player that demonstrates great technique in pretty much all dimensions, passing, shooting, ball control and crossing while his output does not dip in any of these positions.

Above all, he is an intelligent player capable of reading the game and acting accordingly and although physically he is not the strongest or tallest players, he possesses good balance, agility, and decent pace both with and without the ball.

Guerreiro is undoubtedly one of the best left-backs in the world but he continues to be underrated by those who don’t watch the Bundesliga. Yet with his good amount of goals, he utterly deserves much more respect from fans outside Dortmund.

Tomas Soucek

• Full name

  : Tomáš Souček

• Date of birth

  : 27 February 1995 

Tomas Soucek is a Czech professional defensive midfielder who currently plays for Premier League club

and the Czech Republic national team.

After playing for clubs like Slavia Prague, Viktoria Žižkov and Slovan Liberec, he joined West Ham United and although he has been there for less than a year, he already seems to be one of the biggest bargain signings in the club’s recent history.

He has achieved all sorts of praise this season and it is no wonder to see that West Ham’s valuation of him has skyrocketed after such a scintillating start because he has appeared in their all 38 Premier League games to date. But his talents have largely gone overlooked until the second half of the season.

It suffices to mention just his scoring a hat-trick in a 6–2 World Cup qualifying win against Estonia on 24 March 2021 as he became the first Czech player to net 3+ goals in a World Cup qualifying match since Milan Baros netted four v San Marino in September 2009.

While he has been the most standout player in West Ham so far, his defensive and attacking qualities, strong physical presence and unlimited energy that leads him to move box-to-box in the field have made him a noticeably spectacular midfielder.

Whereas he is just 26 years old, his consistency with West Ham and his national team has represented his maturity that can only be seen in the widely experienced and aged players.

Yet he is still assumed to be among the most underrated football players of 2021, as he has not achieved due regard recognition that he deserves.

Frederico Chiesa

• Full name

  : Federico Chiesa

• Date of birth

  : 25 October 1997 

Federico Chiesa is an Italian professional winger who plays for the Italy national team and Serie A club

, on loan from Fiorentina after spending his youth career with the clubs of Settignanese and Fiorentina.

Although it has not been so long since his big-money move to Juventus, he has already shown very scintillating signs that he can live up to the hype, though, his capability is undoubtedly there for him to exceed the career of his father.

Federico Chiesa is one of the most divisive stars in Italy as his good technique and physical development coupled with his perseverance so far have offered him a solid base to perform at the highest levels.

Yet the lack of attacking efficiency in his game is presumably the issue that has made him to be one of the most underrated football players of 2021.

After all, the young star is still just 23 years old and because he is just developing, potentially a very long career is yet to come as the sky is the limit for the youngster.

Andre Silva

• Full name

  : André Miguel Valente da Silva

• Date of birth

  : 6 November 1995

Andre Silva is a Portuguese professional striker who currently plays for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Portugal national team. He played for clubs like Salgueiros, Boavista, Padroense, Porto, Sevilla and

during his youth and senior career.

He was decent when he played for Milan and Sevilla, but he hardly could get any games. It was looking like the same thing with Frankfurt, but his stellar performance made them turn his loan deal permanent until 2023.

And those of Frankfurt were not wrong with their decision since he proved to be Frankfurt's best player as his record of a goal almost every game, precisely as indicated, his 28 goals and 8 assists in his 32 appearances so far speaks volume about Silva's success.

But Andre Silva must be one of the most underrated footballers of 2021 in as much as only Lionel Messi,

and Cristiano Ronaldo have put away more league goals than him while probably you have not even heard his name.

Silva has everything you could want from a modern-day centre forward. He is comfortable covering the width of the pitch to link with the wing-backs as he has the blistering pace required to play on the shoulder of the last centre-back.

Besides his jaw-dropping performance has absorbed many top clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid popping up his transfer rumours every now and then.

Ruben Dias

• Full name

  : Rúben dos Santos Gato Alves Dias

• Date of birth

  : 14 May 1997

Ruben Dias is a Portuguese professional centre-back who plays for Premier League club Manchester City and the Portugal national team. He gained much of his popularity since he was promoted to the first-team Benfica in 2017 as he achieved the title of Primeira Liga's Young Player of the Year.

Besides his brilliant performance captaining

helped them win the league title in the 2018–19 season and the following Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira during the 2019–20 season, as he was also named in the Primeira Liga's Team of the Year, appearing over 100 times in the process.

He is revered as a complete and modern centre-back, while he is both strong in defence and comfortable on the ball. This would make him ideal for Manchester City, therefore they signed him in September 2020 reportedly for a fee of €68 million (£61.64 million).

Since then he has established himself as the de-facto commander of the City defence. While he is armoured with making clean sheets and reading game exceptionally, he has provided consistency and stability to their unpredictable and vulnerable backline.

Likewise, with his seismic impact on

, he deserves much more recognition for his contributions this season. With age on his side, he can build on his incredible base of defensive quality by improving his already great distribution and blending his leadership skills with experience to become even better.

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