The Best Players in Europe

With four months of the 2025/26 season still remaining, now is a good time to assess which players have shone in their respective positions up to this point.

We have looked at goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards to determine who has impressed in the big five European leagues this term.

Without further ado, read on as we take a deep dive into the best performers in Europe, starting with the men between the sticks.

Goalkeepers

Former Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough recognised the importance of goalkeepers, highlighting the futility of scoring goals at one end while conceding at the other.

That point is hammered home by two of the top two performing goalies this season, with David Raya and Yann Sommer on course to backstop their respective teams to titles.

Raya has kept 17 clean sheets in 31 appearances for Arsenal to keep them on course for success in four different competitions.

Inter Milan are still chasing three trophies on the back of Sonner’s tally of 15 shut-outs in 29 appearances.

Intriguingly, having a goalkeeper who can keep clean sheets does not necessarily guarantee success if they fail to perform consistently.

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Robert Sanchez (Chelsea) and Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur) have each kept 13 clean sheets this season, despite their penchant for making errors.

Sanchez has conceded 36 goals in 31 appearances for Chelsea, while Vicario has shipped 42 goals in 34 appearances.

Italian football’s defensive reputation remains intact, with five of the top 10 best-performing goalkeepers playing their trade in Serie A.

Defenders

Defenders in the Premier League and La Liga top the key metrics in their category, accounting for 21 of the top 25 players in Europe’s big five leagues.

Crystal Palace star Tyrick Mitchell tops the ‘tackles won’ section, weighing in with 46. That tally puts him three ahead of Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams.

Jon Aramburu and Sergio Gomez fill the next two places on the list, which indicates that Real Sociedad spend a significant amount of time defending.

Maxence Lacroix strikes a noteworthy balance defensively, recording a table-topping 30 interceptions this term. That is the same tally as his number of tackles won.

A standout feature of the defensive section is the general absence of players from the top clubs in each of the European leagues.

Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea) and Matheus Nunes (Man City) are the only players from the top-ranked teams in Europe.

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The Bundesliga has just one player among the top 25 performing defenders, while Ligue 1 has none to date this season.

That anomaly could be rectified as the campaign progresses, particularly if clubs from those leagues make progress in Europe.

Midfielders

Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez is the standout midfielder of the season to date, weighing in with 10 goals and eleven assists in 27 appearances.

Rayan Cherki’s tally of nine goals and nine assists in 29 games for Manchester City highlights why many people think he is one of the best buys from last summer.

Bruno Fernandes remains Manchester United’s most productive midfielder, bagging five goals and 13 assists in 23 appearances this term.

Of the players who operate in deeper midfield roles, Paris Saint-Germain’s Vitinha is the most productive, having bagged six goals and 10 assists in 30 appearances.

By contrast, Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice’s tally of four goals and eight assists in 33 games is underwhelming given that he has been handed more freedom this season.

The 27-year-old’s statistics have been padded out by set-pieces, which have boosted the number of assists he has recorded this season.

Florian Wirtz also has plenty of room for improvement after bagging just six goals and eight assists in 32 appearances for Liverpool.

Wirtz was signed from Bayer Leverkusen last summer to be a difference-maker in big games, but he has yet to justify the club’s sizeable outlay on him.

Forwards

Two of Europe’s most prolific strikers are engaged in a thrilling battle to win the Golden Boot this season.

Kylian Mbappe has scored 37 goals in 30 appearances for Real Madrid, while Harry Kane has bagged 36 goals in 32 games for Bayern Munich.

Goals in the Champions League could be the decisive factor in the race, and Mbappe may have been handed an unexpected advantage.

Madrid are scheduled to play in the knockout round play-off, which gives Mbappe an extra couple of games to improve his statistics.

The Spanish giants also play more league games than their German counterparts, which could further tip the scales in Mbappe’s favour.

Erling Braut Haaland is third on the list with 27 goals in 34 games for Manchester City, and he could capitalise if the top two falter on the run-in.

Bayern’s Michael Olise has benefited from Kane’s presence in the team, with his tally of 23 assists topping that metric by a considerable distance.

Only two forwards from Serie A make it into the top 25, further cementing the notion that it is a defensive league.