SAVAGE: MY PREM TEAM OF THE DECADE

SEE PAGE 43

THIS is my last column of the decade, so it’s a good chance to reflect on the best players to grace the Premier League over the last 10 years. For drama and quality, there was no shortage of candidates. Please don’t be offended by anyone I’ve left out of my attacking 3-4-3 formation because it’s not an exact science – it’s just my opinion... but I would pay good money to see this XI play. Happy New Year to one and all – see you at the far post in 2020.

EDERSON: Set the standard for goalkeepers who are comfortable with the ball at their feet and distribution. I’ve seen so-called playmakers with a lesser range of passing. Ederson (below) was under huge pressure when he arrived at the Etihad as the second- most expensive keeper in history at £35million behind Gianluigi Buffon. But in two-and-a-half seasons he’s won five trophies with Manchester City. David De Gea takes some beating, but Ederson changed the way I look at the art of goalkeeping.

RIO FERDINAND: At the front end of the decade, Ferdinand (right) won the Premier League in 2011 and 2013, completed 20 seasons in the top flight with West Ham, Leeds and Manchester United, and for smoothness in possession he remains the Rolls-royce of 21st century centre-backs. Yes, his prime years arguably came in the first decade of the millennium, but he still played more than 100 Premier League games after 2010.

VIRGIL VAN DIJK: Two years ago, Van Dijk became the world’s most expensive defender when he signed for Liverpool. Since then, he has played 99 games, scoring nine goals and contributing to 42 clean sheets. He has won the Champions League (after reaching the final 12 months earlier), the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup, and ends the decade at the top of the Premier League. VVD (above right, second row from top) was also PFA Player of the Year and runner-up to Lionel Messi for the 2019 Ballon d’or. What’s not to like?

VINCENT KOMPANY: There at the start of Manchester City’s ascent to prominence when the ‘noisy neighbours’ took over as the powerhouse of English football – and bowed out earlier this year with the domestic Treble. In all, Kompany (above left, third row from top) lifted 10 major trophies in eight years, including four titles, in 360 games for City. He embodied their never-say-die spirit, was a fantastic leader on and off the pitch – and his thunderbolt winner against Leicester last season was probably the moment City pipped Liverpool to the title. John Terry was close to making my line-up, but which of these defenders would he displace? RAHEEM STERLING: Probably the most improved player in the Premier League and now one of the most influential. The way he has conducted himself as a footballer and a social icon is inspiring and, at 25, it’s frightening to think he has already played 346 senior games in club football, scoring 110 goals and won 56 England caps. Sterling (below right, second row from bottom) is on course for greatness. N’GOLO KANTE: An old line, but worth recycling – 70 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered by water; the rest is covered by Kante (below left, bottom row). To win back-toback titles in 2016-17 was an exceptional feat, to do it as the midfield heartbeat of different clubs was astonishing. In his best position, screening the back four, there has been no one better over the past decade.

KEVIN DE BRUYNE: The most complete midfield player in the Premier League right now, and he might end up like Paul Scholes – as the best player never to win the individual prizes like PFA Player of the Year. For passing range, shooting ability and delivery of the early cross into that space where keepers and centre-backs don’t know whether to stick or twist, nobody does it better. I once questioned Manchester City spending £54m on De Bruyne (above): I’m now happy to admit they got him cheap.

GARETH BALE: He didn’t win any trophies at Tottenham, but 26 goals in his final season with Spurs turned Bale (below) into the world’s most expensive player at ¤100m (£85m). Four Champions League winner’s medals later, not to mention that sensational bicycle kick in the final against Liverpool 18 months ago, there is overwhelming evidence he was worth every penny.

EDEN HAZARD: Two Premier League titles with Chelsea, under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, says it all. For a time, Hazard (right) was the best player in English football, and 110 goals in 352 appearances for Chelsea underlines it. At his best, he was almost impossible to mark because he could wriggle out of the tightest spaces.

SERGIO AGUERO: Scorer of the most dramatic goal in Premier League history – the winner against QPR in 2012 which delivered the title to Manchester City and snatched it from neighbours United’s grasp in the very last seconds of the season. His club record 244 goals for City, including a joint-record 11 league hat-tricks, makes Aguero (above) king of the predators in my book. For goal output, Harry Kane runs him close, but Spurs haven’t won anything.

WAYNE ROONEY: It was the decade when he broke both Manchester United and England’s goalscoring records – only the churlish would deny Rooney his place in history. He won every major club trophy in his career, all of them apart from the Champions League in the last decade. More than half of his 183 Premier League goals for United came in the last decade. Deserves to be bracketed with Best, Law and Charlton in the Old Trafford hall of fame.

Mr Marmite.. Love him, hate him, you can’t ignore him