Ranking the 10 best wingers in the world right now: Yamal, Olise, Kvaratskhelia…

Who is the best winger in world football right now? Superstars from Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich are all up there, but who stands out the most?

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. Bukayo Saka

Kicking things off with a big shout having Saka so low. But bear with us.

We haven’t even included reigning Premier League Player Of The Year Mohamed Salah, such has been the marked drop-off in his levels this season. And it’s for a similar reason that we place Saka in at 10th.

Unlike Liverpool’s Egyptian King, who we can safely assume is now on the downslope of an incredible career, we still harbour hope that 24-year-old Saka will fulfil his potential and become truly elite.

But if we’re totally honest with ourselves, it’s been a long time since he got us out of our seats. Relatively meagre open-play goals and assist returns tally with the eye test.

Watching him now, we’re left with a sense that muscle injuries are catching up with him; played too much too young AND lacking a dynamic edge as a result.

Jamie Carragher has argued that Arsenal lack a world-class forward and we’re inclined to agree. If Saka can take his game up to Salah levels, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners could be unstoppable.

But even in this diminished state, he’s a useful player for an Arsenal team chasing domestic and European glory.

For that reason, we’ve put him in ahead of the likes of Jeremy Doku, Bryan Mbeumo and Bradley Barcola.

9. Desire Doue

The PSG wonderkid might lack the wow factor of previous Golden Boy award winners like Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal, but he’s undoubtedly an exceptional talent.

Doue’s breathtaking performance in last season’s Champions League final was one for the history books.

He had a direct hand in PSG’s first three goals against Inter, assisting the first before notching a brace himself – only the second teenager to score and assist in a final since Manchester United’s Brian Kidd in 1968 and the first player with three goal involvements since Inter’s Sandro Mazzola in 1964.

We expected him to go stratospheric that night, but that hasn’t come to pass (yet).

It’s been a relatively mediocre and frustratingly injury-hit 2025-26 campaign, but we’re backing him to demonstrate his talent on the biggest stages once again.

8. Antoine Semenyo

We’ve loved watching the rise of the Chelsea-born Ghana international, who fully deserved a move to an elite club after improving season on season.

A transfer to a club like Man City was inevitable after consistently proving himself one of the standout wingers in the Premier League over the past 18 months at Bournemouth.

He’s made an exceptional start for Pep Guardiola’s side, although failing to shine against Real Madrid showed the final step is always the hardest.

7. 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 comes to goal contributions, but his pressing and work rate have been much-missed.

Liverpool’s loss is 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.

6. 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 recently scored in five successive matches – in a dysfunctional side, let’s not forget – but he did miss several good chances against Bayern Munich.

5. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Forget the numbers.

We could compile a stats-led rundown of Europe’s wide men, observing that Kvaratskhelia’s output of four goals and three assists in Ligue 1 this 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?

The tedious 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.

4. Raphinha

The Brazil international hasn’t quite hit the heights of last season, having suffered from injuries in 2025-26.

We recently made an argument that Raphinha might just be the best player on the planet. Mea culpa: that was probably a bit too strong.

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.

For him to be considered the complete package and re-enter Ballon d’Or conversations, he needs to rediscover the outrageous goal and assist numbers of last season’s peak. But he’s shown he’s capable.

3. Ousmane Dembele

The third PSG star in this list who has struggled to match the heights of last season’s treble-winning campaign.

You look at Luis Enrique’s side and you can’t escape the sense they’re still suffering a hangover from last summer’s Club World Cup and no real break.

But last season they timed their peak to perfection, and their five-star showing against Chelsea and Dembele’s goal in particular – making mincemeat of poor Wesley Fofana – suggested their superstars might just be gearing up for the same thing once again.

It hasn’t been a vintage season from Dembele (yet), but we can’t have the current Ballon d’Or holder any lower.

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, that good.

READ: Are we sleeping on Michael Olise as a Ballon d’Or contender?

1. Lamine Yamal

La Masia’s most talented graduate since Lionel Messi has been around for long enough now that we’ve become accustomed to him.

It’s almost 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 as an 18-year-old 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 right now.

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