With another week of football passing by, we have a whole new set of new performances to set the standard around Europe for who the top players around are. Let’s look at who’s on top of the world this
week.
For the unfamiliar, the nature of this list is as follows:-
- The intrinsic feature of ‘power rankings’ is to have a recency bias, showcasing who’s trending upwards rather than just averaging out the entire season so far.
- The list is purely my opinion. I can only watch so much football.
- Speaking of ‘so much football’, the list is limited to the top five leagues (Ligue 1, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and the Premier League).
- While exceptions are made from time to time, only one player is to be included per team. This is a very softly-enforced rule, but a rule nonetheless.
10. Can Uzun (Last week: 3)
Eintracht Frankfurt have had a whirlwind of a week.
There were only two things that their two games had in common: both featured stellar performances from striker Jonathan Burkardt, and both featured far more goals than anyone expected to see. Frankfurt faced Borussia Mönchengladbach at the weekend and went up by six goals at the end of the first half (!!!!) but somehow managed to concede four in the second half (????), with Uzun bagging one of the six. However, they were subsequently left in the dust by Atlético Madrid, who slammed five goals past them with fervour; Uzun himself barely being present on the pitch before being hooked at the hour-mark, seeing him slip down from the podium to the very edge of the list.
9. Nico Paz (Last week: 4)
Como faced Cremonese at the weekend in what promised to be a fascinating match as both teams are overperforming expectations, although Cremonese were without Emil Audero in goal who has been stellar this season so far.
Nico Paz enjoyed a good game once again, with his opener being one of only two goals scored in the game (1-1), receiving a brilliant pass from Jesús Rodríguez which he dispatched with ease. It’s really the lack of an extraordinary winning moment that slips Paz down the rankings.
8. Alejandro Grimaldo (New)
Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo has arguably not been as good as he was in previous weeks, but consistently elite performances have seen him power his way into the list.
For the unfamiliar, Grimaldo saw Declan Rice’s two free kick goals against Real Madrid last season and raised him three free kick goals in two games, scoring a brace against Frankfurt and then another against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League. Since then, however, he is goalless, but seemingly the team is just as dependent on him.
Leverkusen came to Hamburg to face St. Pauli in a game that saw Kasper Hjulmand’s men under immense pressure from St. Pauli who just kept launching attack after attack, but Grimaldo was the one to relieve the pressure with a free kick that landed at the feet of Edmond Tapsoba, and then doubled down with an assist for Ernest Poku’s winner after St. Pauli received their dividends in the form of an equaliser. Against PSV in the Champions League, Grimaldo wouldn’t get a reward for his efforts, but it looked like the only way Leverkusen were going to score was if he got the ball, setting up basically every shot that they took all game and hitting the woodwork himself from a tight angle. What a baller.
7. Marc Guéhi (New)
It’s difficult to put defenders here in earnest because the best defensive performances are collective in nature, and a good defender is often supported heavily by not just his teammates but also the system and structure they are played in.
That being said, Crystal Palace have arguably the best defense in all of Europe right now, with Maxence Lacroix, Daniel Muñoz and Chris Richards each individually having a case for being on this list, but I’ve gone with Marc Guéhi who I and many others believe to be the standout individual in this team.
You know him, I know him. He’s been linked with every single big club in Europe over the last year or so, and it’s a testament to his character that despite his move to Liverpool collapsing at the last minute due to Palace blocking the deal, he has not only continued to act professionally but has amped up his performances in the new season. Ironically, Guéhi would pick up an assist in Palace’s 2-1 win over Liverpool, setting up the opener with a great header down across the face of goal for Ismaïla Sarr.
6. David Raum (New)
RB Leipzig started the season with a nightmare 6-0 loss to Bayern Munich, but since then, they have only conceded one goal all season, and David Raum has been monumental in this achievement.
Raum hasn’t been a statistical leader in any category, but rather it’s his structural facilitation of others that has allowed Leipzig to flourish the way they have, locking down his flank both in possession and out of possession and opening up space for his teammates. The game against VfL Wolfsburg this week was a prime example, with the otherwise electric Mohamed Amoura being forced to explore spaces away from the left flank just to compensate for Raum’s defensive prowess, and the lack of stability or cohesion in Wolfsburg’s structure from then on resulting in them never really getting a foot in the game while Leipzig were in cruise control after an early goal from Johan Bakayoko (a goal that started with an error by Amoura, an error forced by Raum).
Raum generally starts the season very strongly, but this time it feels different. It’s not just that he’s racking up goal contributions at a high rate to bump his numbers, he’s doing so much for the team to reflect the captain’s armband he’s been bestowed with this season. A real leader.
5. Kylian Mbappé (New)
I don’t like including players who simply have a high number of goal contributions which is why he didn’t make the list prior despite his impressive record, but after last week there is no getting around it. Kylian Mbappé has well and truly arrived at Real Madrid, for real this time. We need to reckon with it.
A great goal in the Madrid derby and an immensely impressive hat-trick against Kairat Almaty in the Champions League, the captain of the French national team is in unbelievable form, with 13 goals and an assist in his 9 games for Real Madrid so far, the only game he hasn’t scored in for the club being a league game against RCD Mallorca back in August. It seems the Crown Prince of Football still wants that throne after all.
4. Michael Olise (New)
Taking the spot of his teammate Luis Díaz, Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise continues to prove that he is a potential all-timer and the true heir to Arjen Robben in the Allianz Arena.
When we talk about players like Robben, or Franck Ribéry, or Eden Hazard, or any of the big players from previous eras, we think of them as having a certain guaranteed level of performance or quality, something that we don’t see in a lot of players today. Olise is not one of them, as he seems to always deliver at a high level, no matter what situation he’s put in.
Against Werder Bremen, Olise ran the show, setting up Harry Kane multiple times in the first half although fate had other ideas, but he managed to crack the defense open with a fantastic cross after a set piece broke down for Jonathan Tah who flicked it in (although it looked like a goal for Díaz to me), also playing a massive part in that unbelievable third Bayern goal (seriously, go watch the whole thing, you probably won’t be able to find it in highlight videos but it’s all over X and Bluesky).
Against Pafos in the Champions League too, Olise pulled all the strings. Even when he wasn’t scoring or assisting, he was setting up massive chances and spaces for the team, including a pair of remarkable assists alongside a fantastic poached goal, all three contributions coming in extremely tight spaces where seemingly surgical precision was required to get the ball into the right areas, and that’s what Olise is all about. He might look a bit awkward when he runs, he might not have the most agile-looking frame, but his execution of everything is just picture-perfect.
3. Erling Haaland (New)
Erling Braut Haaland is a freak of nature.
The Norwegian striker has amassed 11 goals and an assist for Manchester City already, and looks as deadly as ever while doing it. It remains to be seen if he can capture the Ballon d’Or-worthy performances he delivered in his debut season for City a couple seasons ago, but it seems the downward trend of his goalscoring has been bucked, and bucked HARD.
A headed assist for Matheus Nuñes alongside a brace of impressive striker’s finishes made him the standout player in City’s 5-1 frying of Burnley, and while City failed to win against AS Monaco in the Champions League thanks to a late penalty won and taken by Eric Dier (because of course), Haaland could not blame himself as he scored two outrageously impressive goals, winning a race against both Mohammed Salisu and Philipp Köhn to arc the ball impossibly over Köhn in goal (the ball already being at shoulder height), and doubling his tally with a leap so high he probably saw the curvature of the Earth while up there. Crazy what human biology is capable of producing.
2. Julián Alvarez (New)
Speaking of Manchester City strikers, how about Julián Alvarez, eh?
When the Argentine was first signed by City, I was frustrated because Bayern had been linked with him for quite a while. He then went on to perform pretty well for them, and I thought he would grow into a fantastic Pep Guardiola player.
Then, out of nowhere, he leaves for Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid. A team that’s known for signing big attacking players and reducing their output to function as part of a system. I thought, “Oh well, that’s the end of that, guess Alvarez is gonna down as another João Félix or Thomas Lemar.”
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Atlético have needed time to adjust this season, with some big changes occurring, particularly in midfield which is where Alvarez really needs his support from and in turn supports himself. However, now that it’s been figured out, Atlético have begun to FLY, scoring thirteen goals in their last three games, including five against Real Madrid and five against Eintracht Frankfurt in back-to-back games. Alvarez himself bagged a hat-trick against Rayo Vallecano before scoring a penalty and an outrageous free kick in the Madrid derby to take the game from level to 4-2 in a matter of minutes. Then against Frankfurt, his corners were a menace, resulting in Robin Le Normand’s goal (almost identical to Le Normand’s goal from an Alvarez corner in the Madrid derby) as well as Giuliano Simeone’s near-post header, but Alvarez topped that off with a brilliant run and assist for Antoine Griezmann, and was rewarded for his work with a penalty that he converted to make it 5-1 on the night.
What world are we in where suddenly every top team in the world has a proper central goalscorer again?
1. Harry Kane (Reign: 9 days)
Speaking of top goalscorers, you literally cannot do better than Harry Kane right now, who keeps his crown from last week.
And I mean that historically.
Coming into the game against Bremen, Kane was on the precipice of a new record, something that he seemingly is every week, but this one was extra-special. Kane sat on 98 goals in 103 games for Bayern, meaning a brace would be his 100th goal for the club in record time in the 21st century, the record previously being shared by Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland at 105 games each. The first half was rough, with Kane missing a couple chances, but a penalty at the very end was enough to soothe the nerves, and when Bayern came out in the second half it seemed inevitable that Kane would get it, and he did.
Against Pafos, Kane opened the scoring with a ridiculously precise finish that seemed to dodge about eight different limbs before planting itself in the corner across the face of goal, and scored a second after a scrappy dribble through half the Pafos defense. That last goal took him to 20 goal contributions for the season in just 9 games. He did it in 741 minutes, faster than Lionel Messi in his infamous 2011/12 season.
We are watching the greatest form in the history of the game.
What did you make of this list? Is there anybody you would have mentioned? Let us know in the discussion below.
