Who is the best winger in world football right now? Superstars from Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich are all up there and the World Cup has boosted their reputations.
Europe’s biggest clubs are packed with elite wide attackers, yet only a select few can claim to be the very best. Narrowing our ranking down to just 10 names wasn’t easy, but we got there in the end.
Without further ado, here’s our ranking of the 10 best wingers in world football.
10. Anthony Gordon
Gordon’s final season on Tyneside left quite a lot to be desired, but he looks a very nice fit at Barcelona.
The 25-year-old’s energetic and selfless style has seen him fit seamlessly into Hansi Flick’s forward line. This has the makings of a very special attack.
9. Bukayo Saka
But a hat-trick in the third-place play-off against Argentina was a reminder of his class. Provided his minutes are managed more mindfully, we’re expecting a return to form in 2026-27.
And the early signs are very promising indeed. Saka, and Arsenal’s attack in general, has looked considerably more fluid and fearsome. Will he back to his best this season? In which case, he’ll almost certainly climb up a few spots in this list.
8. Luis Diaz
The Colombian registered a good-not-great total of 13 goals and five assists in Liverpool’s Premier League-winning season.
But few of those came in the latter half of the campaign and the consensus was that he was replaceable when he departed for Bayern Munich.
That hasn’t proven to be the case. Diaz’s departure might not have left a chasm when it came to goal contributions, but his pressing and work rate were much missed.
Liverpool’s loss was Bayern’s gain. Vincent Kompany’s side have stepped things up a level since the addition of Diaz’s tenacity and intensity.
The numbers have improved too, albeit with the caveat that goals come easier in the Bundesliga – particularly for the perennial champions. Still, he’s scored more for Bayern than Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery ever managed in one season. That stat quietly blew our minds.
He had his moments in the World Cup, but it looked a struggle to singlehandedly carry the attack and he looked gassed by the time they were out.
7. Vinicius Junior
After throwing the mother of all hissy fits after missing out on the 2024 Ballon d’Or, Vinicius spent almost a year looking like a sad joke.
He didn’t look anything like one of the best players on the planet in a desperately disappointing 2024-25 season. Call us amateur psychologists, but it looked as though he was struggling badly with having the limelight stolen by Real Madrid’s latest Galactico.
We’re still pondering awkward questions over whether Vini and Kylian Mbappe can feature together in a functional team, but gradually the Brazilian’s starting to look like his old self.
He looked excellent in the group stage of the World Cup, repeatedly stepping up and finally out of Neymar’s shadow. But he drew a blank in both knockout games as the Selecao suffered their earliest World Cup exit since 1990. Not what they expect of their superstars.
Vini has the ability to top this list. Let’s see what happens with Jose Mourinho in the dugout and a new contract signed. He can focus fully on his football again.
6. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Forget the numbers.
We could compile a stats-led rundown of Europe’s wide men, observing that Kvaratskhelia’s output of eight goals and four assists in Ligue 1 last season is inferior to that of some bang-average footballers, but that would be boring.
Who cares if Kvaradona isn’t putting some French farmers to the sword every week if he can come on and do what he did against Chelsea and Bayern?
The discourse around the death of maverick entertainers probably has some truth in today’s systemised game, but the Georgian is a wonderful outlier on that front.
We’re genuinely reminded of the likes of Ronaldinho, Georgi Kinkladze and Ricardo Quaresma when he has the ball at his feet. True ingenuity will never die.
5. Raphinha
Earlier this year we made an argument that Raphinha might just be the best player on the planet. Mea culpa: that was probably a bit too strong.
Raphinha was decent when he was fit and available, but both his 2025-26 campaign and World Cup were frustratingly marred by injuries.
But we stand by the central thesis: he is absolutely integral for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. Like Diaz at Bayern and Liverpool before, his intensity helps set the tone and makes the team tick. That is invaluable.
We reckon that Barcelona would have made it past Atletico in the Champions League were he there, and Brazil really could’ve done with him in the knockout stages.
He’s showing that now, leading the early goalscoring charts across Europe after scoring in all four of Barcelona’s La Liga outings so far this season.
We might have to put him into the strikers list after his shift in position, but for now he’s a winger playing remarkably effectively up top. Perhaps he’s taken inspiration from…
4. Ousmane Dembele
His Ballon d’Or-winning campaign was always going to be difficult to top, and last season probably fell just short.
Injuries interrupted his rhythm, while France’s World Cup ended in semi-final disappointment against Spain.
But his Champions League pedigree remains beyond question, delivering decisive goals in every knockout round before equalising against Arsenal in the final.
Admittedly, that was more as a centre-forward, but he still belongs among the very best wide attackers of his generation.
3. Lionel Messi
Thirty-nine years old. Playing out in MLS for the past three years.
But you watched him in the World Cup and there can be no question that he’s still among the very best footballers on the planet. Not of this earth.
2. Michael Olise
It would be easy to overlook Olise, given Harry Kane’s top billing and the Bundesliga tax narrative, but that would be folly. A genuine Ballon d’Or contender. Yes, good.
Had Olise created more magic in the second leg of Bayern’s Champions League ding-dong with PSG, and not faded in the World Cup semis, we’d have considered putting him top.
Unfortunately it didn’t quite happen for him, but it’s still been an outrageously good season. Thirty-one(!) assists in all competitions for Bayern and plenty more for Les Bleus in the World Cup.
He couldn’t produce another moment of magic as France crashed out to Spain, although that hardly changes the bigger picture. A proper superstar.
1. Lamine Yamal
La Masia’s most talented graduate since Lionel Messi is now a World Cup winner. He’s been around for long enough now that we’ve become accustomed to him.
It’s three years since he made his debut, and he’s now racked up over 150 appearances for club and country.
Every so often it’s good to step back and remind ourselves that what he is doing a teenager is simply not normal. Messi and Ronaldo weren’t doing anything like this at the same age.
Use whatever metrics you want. Goals, assists, chances created, dribbles. Yamal is scarily good on all fronts but the data only serves to back up what we can see with our own eyes.
Quite clearly the best, most dangerous wide attacker in world football. After easing his way back from that hamstring injury, he grew into the World Cup and ended the tournament as the youngest winner since 1982.
If there was ever any doubt he would deliver on the biggest stage, it didn’t last long. And he’s started the new season like a machine.
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