Building the Perfect Footballer: Body Part by Body Part

The idea of "the perfect footballer" is, naturally, entirely subjective. 

Part of the beauty of football is that everyone has a different favourite type of way for a team and its individuals to play, and therefore will look for different characteristics that make up their ultimate player.

For this list I have chosen only current players, and have disregarded how they would actually fit together, Frankenstein-style. I am more concerned with simply naming a player who I think is the finest example of each component.

No doubt you will have ideas of your own. Please feel free to share them below.

They say that when it comes to style, it's not about what you wear but how you wear it.

On almost anyone else, Neymar's hair would look ridiculous. His copper-dyed mohawk and duck tail is part Travis Bickle, part Flock of Seagulls. It has no place in normal society.

On the young Brazil striker, however, it just works. He rocks it with a confidence that says "I'm one of the best and most highly-paid footballers in the world, and I can do what I want." 

For all of the outrageous talent that litters the teams of Barcelona and Spain, Xavi is the one who makes them tick.

The creative fulcrum for both club and country, the 32 year old dictates the tempo and pulls the strings from the centre of the pitch.

His pass completion rates continue to boggle the mind, but it is not a simple case of five-yard knocks back and forth. His actions always have a purpose, constantly thinking three steps ahead as he surveys the scene in front of him and probes for a way through even the most stubborn defences.

A truly cerebral footballing genius.

This spot could quite easily have gone to Xavi's international teammate and big club rival, Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso.

However, with Scholes coming out of retirement in January, the Manchester United midfielder has returned to re-stake his claim as the player with the greatest vision.

The 37 year old has surprised everyone with the level at which he has managed to perform this year despite his age and spending the first half of the season outside of competitive football.

Scholes has a rare ability to see what spectators can from the stands while he is on the pitch. Sometimes, it seems, he can even spot a passing option and make it before those looking on have even worked out what is happening.

The brain and eyes of this imaginary footballing titan need somewhere to be housed, and the hair needs something to sit atop. 

For the head, there is no better player than Atletico Madrid's Falcao. The Colombian striker is an aerial dynamo, typified by his header which won F.C. Porto the Europa League final last season.

Like the bird of his name, he soars through the air to lethal effect, with a powerful purpose and accuracy that few defenders in Spain had ever experienced before.

If there is one word to describe the Manchester United midfielder, it is stamina.

The South Korean is an indefatigable player, able to run and hustle just as effectively in the final minutes of a match as the first. That is one of the reasons he is so often manager Alex Ferguson's go-to guy for United's biggest matches.

The supposed source of his incredible engine has sparked an unusual controversy in his homeland. After writing in his autobiography that his father made him drink frog juice to build his stamina, the amphibians are now being hunted to dangerous levels in Korea. 

The problem has got so severe that a lobby group, Frog Friends, has appealed to Park to ask the public to desist from catching and blending the animals to improve their own fitness.

There are countless footballers who have more rippling biceps or more defined six-packs, but the Bayern Munich midfielder possesses the ideal body to play the game.

As a youngster, Schweinsteiger was a talented skier, and considered going professional on the World Cup circuit before choosing football. He is also highly adept at basketball, and came close to playing for Bayern's basketball team last year.

Standing at six feet tall and weighing 170 pounds, Schweinteiger has the perfect combination of strength and agility you would expect from an exceptional all-around athlete.

There are players who are faster than Cristiano Ronaldo. There are players who are stronger than Cristiano Ronaldo. But there is no player in the game who legs combine the two to such devastating effect as the Real Madrid forward.

Ronaldo is the ultimate 21st-century footballer. His pace and power are tailor-made for the quick pace at which the modern game is played.

He is able to surge past defenders seemingly at will, and is strong enough to take the knocks and kicks that would send many inferior players to the ground and instead keep on going.

A recent example of how the Portuguese's pins were put to good use was his winner for Real in the 1-0 win at Rayo Vallecano (pictured). The ball broke loose inside the box following a corner and he executed a supreme donkey kick of a back heel that flew past the keeper.

Was it ever going to be anyone else? 

The three-time World Player of the Year showed just why he is on course to becoming the greatest player of all time with his five-goal haul in Barcelona's 7-1 destruction of Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.

In that match, Messi scored two exquisite lobs, a close-range finish, a fine low drive and a long-range screamer to become the first player to score five times in one Champions League match. He has a world-class ability to score every type of goal.

The little Argentinian magician possesses close control previously unseen anywhere except on a games console. His ability to change direction with the ball at his feet at pace never fails to mesmerize.

As Barca coach Pep Guardiola put it after the Leverkusen game: "I'm lucky to coach and manage this player. He is the best. There's no one else. He is a unique player because of his innate talent and also for his competitiveness. We will not see another player like Messi. It's not easy to score five goals, and one day he will score six."