The number 10 role is one of the most important in football and has been played by many greats.
Often playing behind the strikers, they are tasked with creating goal scoring opportunities and there are many who have made it their own.
Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards will return in the spring with their latest series of Match of the Day: Top 10, ranking their top 10s from an assortment of topics.
Pick your top three for each of the upcoming shows, and the trio will get to see your choices before they record the Pod for the show.
The subject is the best number 10s.
It is difficult to define exactly what a number 10 is, according to Lineker.
Everyone wants to play in this position because you can mess around a lot. You don't have to make a lot of runs behind defences, you don't get kicked by defenders, and you don't have to chase back too much.
It is the perfect role. I would have played there if I had been able to pass the ball.
When Peter Beardsley became the first number 10 for England at the 1986 World Cup, it was a huge change for Bobby Robson.
When I first got into the England team, it was Mark Hateley who I played with, but after two games in Mexico, it became Beardsley and me and we just hit it off.
It helped the whole team because it gave us an extra body in the middle, where previously we had been out-numbered by continental teams. We had a spare man and it worked. We were close to winning the World Cup in 1990.
It helped me too, for selfish reasons. I used to like playing up front on my own with a number 10 behind me rather than with another number nine because there was more space in the box.
The key to scoring goals is that there is less space to attack because the opposition has more bodies in it.
I didn't want that to happen when I was a forward, so I have always doubted that phrase about how a team needs to get more bodies in the box. We will discuss all of that during the chat.
Mesut Ozil was one of the best players in the world when he wore the number 10 shirt.
In the three seasons that he had topped the list of assists at Real Madrid, the German was the best passer of the ball. Such creativity came with a hefty price tag as the club paid a then-club record amount to sign the player.
In his first season at the club, he helped end a nine-year trophy famine by winning the FA Cup. He was the third highest scorer in a single season with 19 assists.
Joe Cole was one of the best number 10s to have played for the Blues, and younger readers may not remember much about him.
Cole was a player who could get you off your feet whenever he had the ball and that is why he is remembered as a Chelsea legend.
He was a part of the team that lost to Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final.
The player excelled in the number 10 role.
Capable of playing brilliant passes, embarking on defence-splitting runs and scoring spectacular goals, he - like Cole - has a strong case to be considered the best player in the playmaker position for the Blues.
He won two titles, two cups, and scored over 100 goals in over 300 games before joining Real Madrid for a fee that could rise to 146m euros if add-ons are met.
Wayne Rooney joined Manchester United in a deal worth 27 million dollars after bursting onto the scene as a 16-year-old.
While Rooney started out with the number eight jersey, he took the number 10 for the next 10 years, although he was more involved in the deeper role of the shirt in the latter part of his career.
He left Manchester United for the second time in a year in order to join the Toffees for the new season.
Dennis Bergkamp was one of the greats and in the number 10 position, he was a key part of a hugely successful era for the club.
After joining from Inter Milan in 1995, the classy Dutchman won three premier league titles and four FA cups at the helm of the club. The club had a perfect 2003-4 league season.
If a player gets a statue in their honor, they are a legend.
There is a permanent reminder of David Silva outside the stadium. He scored 77 goals for City. Silva left City in 2020 to return to his native Spain, having won numerous collective and individual honours during his time there.
He won five League Cups and two FA Cups at the club.
While Bruno has struggled to find his best form this season, the Portuguese was incredible when he first arrived at Manchester United.
He joined in 2020 from Sporting Lisbon. In his first season, he scored eight goals in 14 games to help United get into the playoffs, and in his second season, he scored 18 goals in the league, and 28 in all competition, to help United get back into the playoffs.
It could be argued that he is not a true number 10, but when he is on it, he is one of the best in the business.
Philippe Coutinho made an immediate impression on his return to the Premier League with a goal on his debut for Villa, as they came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 against Manchester United.
He will be managed by his former team-mate Steven Gerrard, who will be hoping to replicate the form that he produced at the Anfield club.
The Brazilian was an elite creator and had a good eye for goal. He scored 12 and 14 goals in the two seasons that he was a star for the Reds, but he became the second-most expensive player in the world when he joined Barcelona.
Not just one of the best-ever central defenders in the premier league, but also one of the greatest of all time, Paul Scholes was admired by all the greats of the game.
More of a central midfielder than a traditional number 10, he could nevertheless do everything - and more - a player in that position could do. As Barcelona legend Xavi once said: "A spectacular player who has everything. He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn't give possession away."
After coming out of a previous, brief retirement, the former Manchester United player, Paul Scholes, went on to win 11 titles at the club, including two League Cups.
This is a list of people with the number 10. In his first season with the club, Juan Mata helped the Blues win the European Championship, getting the crucial assist for Drogba to equalise against the Germans, before the English side won on penalties.
Mata was twice named the club's player of the year in 2012 and 2013 before joining Manchester United, and his influence was recognised as he was twice named the club's player of the year.
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