The 10 Best Premier League Wingers: Ranked
In modern football, traditional Number 9s can be hard to come by. A big, imposing centre forward who can hold up the ball, win aerial battles and score 20+ goals a season is a rare thing, and besides, most top teams have shifted toward a style of football that renders these attributes slightly less important.
Man City's lethal target man Erling Haaland might fit the description, but he's a rare beast. Instead of pinning their hopes on a top striker, many coaches these days like to place more emphasis on wide players. As a result, those who play on the wing are arguably more of a goal threat than ever before.
The Premier League is packed with talented wide midfielders and attackers, but only a handful of them stand out as world-class talents capable of consistently contributing goals and assists while also performing the out-of-possession responsibilities their coaches require.
The bulk of this article will be spent analysing who the best-performing Premier League wingers are right now. But before we get onto that, we're going to spend a little bit of time discussing what the role of the modern winger entails.
The Role Of The Modern Winger
The way coaches structure their teams has changed a lot in the last few decades, but one thing that has consistently remained visible at the top of the game is the role of the winger. When it comes to being dangerous in attacking areas, width is a non-negotiable.
If you really want to stretch an opposition back line, you have to use the wide areas of the pitch. Modern wingers may not always look like the kinds of wingers who graced our football pitches 15 or 20 years ago, but they have more in common than you might think.
The winger role can be traced all the way back to the early 20th century, when sides like Herbert Chapman's Huddersfield Town used a W-M formation that utilised two wide forwards on either side of a central striker. Front threes have been popular in the game ever since then, although in England the role of the winger shifted slightly in the 1970s and 80s, when the 4-4-2 formation became dominant and wingers began to take on more defensive responsibilities as part of a flatter midfield four.
As well as being required to counter-attack with speed or break past opposition full-backs and get crosses into the box, wingers would also be asked to track back and help out their own full-backs and midfielders in more defensive zones.
The 4-4-2 shape started to fade away in the early 2010s, and these days it's rare to see a Premier League side operating with two out-and-out strikers and a classic left winger and right winger set-up. As as result, the front three has reintroduced itself as the most common way of lining up an attack, and wingers — or wide forwards, on the left or right side of a central forward — play a crucial role in the game (even if it's a slightly different role to the one played by wingers in a 4-4-2 system).
Modern wingers need to have speed and stamina, crossing and passing ability, clever movement, and excellent dribbling skills, as well as the ability to press opposition defenders in a structured manner, which is crucial in the tactically advanced, strategically complex modern game.
On top of all this, defensive tracking back is super important; think of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side, whose wingers — Gabriel Martinelli or Bukayo Saka for example — will regularly be asked to drop deep and provide defensive support when playing against a strong team like Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. The modern winger needs to be able to combine these skills and wrap them into a cohesive package.
The 10 Best Premier League Wingers: Ranked (2024/25)
The players below are all able to perform those key duties and responsibilities we've fleshed out above. But it's fair to say some of them dazzle more than others. Here are the top 10 best Premier League wingers right now, ranked according to Sofascore's Average Ratings across the 2024/25 season so far.
#10. Gabriel Martinelli
Gabriel Martinelli joined Arsenal at the age of 18, so it's understandable that his form has dipped and peaked a little during his time in North London. However, there's no denying that on his day, the Brazilian wide man — who typically operates on the left hand side of a front three — can be unplayable.
Known for his blistering pace, superb dribbling skills and dogged defensive work (Arteta has transformed him into a hard-working and versatile wide player), Martinelli is one of the Premier League's best left midfielders, and his average Sofascore rating of 7.27 per game in 2024/25 is a testament to that.
#10. Callum Hudson-Odoi
Tied with Martinelli on a score of 7.27 per game, Hudson-Odoi is a player who has really kicked on this season. A key attacking contributor in a surprisingly impressive Nottingham Forest side led by Nuno Espirito Santo, he's played an important role in wins against Liverpool and Southampton, boosting his solid tally of nine goals in 41 appearances for Forest.
#10. Adama Traore
Feared by defenders across the land for his lightning pace and bulky physical presence, Adama Traore is a unique player who poses a serious challenge to even the best full-backs. Typically a right-winger, he's known for his speedy dribbles and whipped crosses, and already this campaign he's grabbed a goal and two assists for Fulham, with an average match performance rating of 7.27.
#7. Noni Madueke
Chelsea winger Noni Madueke may have been further down this list if it wasn't for one ridiculously productive weekend; in the Blues' dramatic 6-2 win over Wolves in late August he scored a rapid 15-minute hat-trick and further infuriated Wolves fans after insulting the town of Wolverhampton on social media.
Cutting in to shoot from the right wing, he can be an extremely dangerous player, and under Enzo Maresca Madueke could turn out to be a key attacking force at Chelsea. So far, he's got an average match score of 7.28 in the Premier League.
#6. Brennan Johnson
When Brennan Johnson tapped the ball into an empty net to give Spurs the lead against Manchester United last weekend, he already had a massive smile on his face. Since criticism from fans caused him to quit social media in September, he's been electric, scoring four goals in four games and combining with attackers like Dominic Solanke and James Maddison to play some scintillating football under Ange Postecoglou. Sofascore have his average match rating at 7.30 for the season so far.
#5. Dwight McNeil
It's been a difficult start to the season for Everton, who went five games without securing a win before a crucial victory against Crystal Palace at the end of September. Dwight McNeil was the man who drove them to victory that day, with a quick brace after half-time turning the game on its head.
His curling, left-footed equaliser was a peach of a goal and arguably his best moment of the season so far, but you can't deny he has consistently performed well for the Toffees lately. Sofascore has his average match rating at 7.73, meaning he's in the top five Premier League wingers right now.
#4. Luis Diaz
Luis Diaz's performances last season were understandably impacted by extremely difficult personal circumstances. Thankfully, this year he's been back to his best. The left winger's average Sofascore rating of 7.78 reflects his productivity in front of goal as well as his fluid and effective team play; the Colombia international already has five goals and one assist in six Premier League appearances this season, an explosive start that highlights how crucial he could be during the Arne Slot era.
#3. Heung-min Son
The departure of club legend Harry Kane last summer left Heung-min Son playing a central role for much of the 2023/24 season. But Dominic Solanke's arrival has allowed the Korean forward to shift back into a wide left position, where he's flourished throughout much of his career.
With two league goals and two league assists so far this campaign, his average match rating stands at 7.88, and this kind of form is nothing new — since joining Spurs in 2015, Son has racked up 122 goals and 64 assists in 308 Premier League games (averaging out as a goal contribution every 1.65 games).
#2. Bukayo Saka
Arsenal's star winger Bukayo Saka is only 23 years old, but he's already developed cult status at the Emirates. The England international has registered 60 goals and 58 assists in his 235 appearances for his boyhood club, and his passion and love for the Gunners is clear for all to see.
In 2024/25, he'll be hoping he can lead Arteta's side to the club's first league title in 20 years, and with six goal contributions in six Premier League games so far (one goal and five assists) and a Sofascore average rating of 7.95 per game, it seems highly likely that he'll be integral to any successful title charge.
#1. Mohamed Salah
Undoubtedly one of the most talented attackers in the Premier League, Egyptian icon Mohamed Salad has consistently racked up ridiculous numbers for Liverpool. His 211 goals make him the club's fifth-highest all-time goalscorer, and his 155 in the Premier League make him the club's highest scorer post-1992.
And that form doesn't look to be slowing down; at the time of writing, Salah has a stunning four goals and four assists in six league matches this season, and is the Premier League winger with the joint-highest average rating for the 2024/25 campaign, with 7.95 per game, the same as Bukayo Saka. It's highly likely that these two players will be competing at the very top of the table come the end of the season.
If you'd like to find out more about this unique soccer position, check out our guide to the winger role.