20 Best Wingers in World Football [Ranked]

Nowadays, footballers come in all shapes and sizes; though, it’s such variation that makes the beautiful game so engrossing. Back in the day, the plan was simple: find the skillful winger with a long pass, watch them bamboozle a defender and then whip it into the box for the focal point to nod it home.

There are now wingers who consider themselves goalscorers, pressers, inside forwards and much more. From your silky Brazilians to your undeviating Englishmen, there are a host of skill-sets that are lighting up the Premier League and European football at the current moment.

And that got us thinking: who are the best wingers in world football right now? By no means an easy task with the traditional 4-4-2 formation seldom in play and the emergence of sub-categorised wide men, below is a list of the 20 best wingers in world football, ranked in order and based on the following factors.

Ranking factors ​​​

• Goals – how many times has a player found the back of the net in the last 12 months.
• Assists – how many goals has a player created in the last 12 months.
• Success – Has the player guided them to trophies and the latter stages of knockout football, both domestically and continentally.
• Notable moments – Has the player had a standout moment which caught the eyes of fans.
• Importance to their respective team – how reliant a team is on the individual for success.

A quick caveat: to be included, each player’s main position must be listed as either ‘Right Winger’ or ‘Left Winger’ on Transfermarkt. As such, the exclusion of Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe is by virtue of him being classed as a ‘Centre-Forward’. Cole Palmer and Phil Foden also used to be wingers, but are now viewed as an ‘Attacking Midfielder’.

20

Ademola Lookman – Atletico Madrid & Nigeria

Ademola Lookman has, often quietly, been among the best wingers in the world for a while now. A move to Atletico Madrid last February has dragged him away from possibly stagnating at Atalanta, and has helped put him in the limelight.

From bouncing around Premier League loans to becoming a star in Serie A, Lookman scored the winner in the Champions League against Barcelona to send Atleti to the semi-finals and doesn’t look out of place among the best players in the world. We already know his European prowess after a hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2024 Europa League final.

19

Kenan Yildiz – Juventus & Turkey

Kenan Yildiz is one of the less-familiar names on this list, but that won’t be the case for much longer. The young Turkish winger broke out a couple of seasons ago, bagging 12 goals and nine assists for Juventus, and he doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon.

Indeed, with 12 goals and 10 assists in 2025/26, the 21-year-old is wasting no time as he asserts himself as one of the most exciting attacking prospects on the planet. The world appears to be at the feet of this former Bayern Munich prospect, and it will be exciting to see how his career progresses this season once he returns from injury.

18

Marcus Rashford – Manchester United & England

Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith

There is a world in which Marcus Rashford established himself as the best winger in the world, and stayed there for many years. Perhaps he would have achieved that had he been playing for Manchester United in a more stable era.

Instead, as managers came and went at Old Trafford, his form fluctuated in a similar manner. Sometimes spectacular, other times indifferent, the Englishman has had an odd couple of years after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim. Loan spells at Aston Villa and Barcelona went well enough, but he failed to secure a permanent transfer. He has now returned to Man Utd and will hope to rediscover his rhythm with Michael Carrick now calling the shots, having been given plenty of minutes early into the new campaign.

17

Yan Diomande – Real Madrid & Ivory Coast

REUTERS/Juan Barbosa

Signed from Spanish side CD Leganes in the summer of 2025, Yan Diomande quickly went about becoming one of the Bundesliga’s brightest prospects. He offered great dynamism on the flank for RB Leipzig, scoring 13 and registering 10 assists in 36 games for the German club.

He looked very bright for the Ivory Coast at the 2026 World Cup as well, and all that was enough to convince Real Madrid to splash over £100m on the winger. It’s too early to judge him just yet, but the 19-year-old has all the tools to rocket up this list as the season goes on.

16

Mohamed Salah – Trabzonspor & Egypt

REUTERS/Murad Sezer

An ever-present feature in some of Liverpool’s most illustrious sides of all time, Mohamed Salah was sat at the very top of this list not so long ago. By virtue of his, in hindsight, measly £34.3 million price tag, Jurgen Klopp’s acquisition of the free-scoring Egyptian can be considered one of the coups of the century.

In the truest sense, there was no ‘winger’ more potent than Salah. The three-time Golden Boot winner’s goals flowed at a spectacular rate – hence why he is considered among the greatest wingers to have ever graced the Premier League. However, his final season at Anfield showed that Father Time comes for us all.

Now 34, Salah isn’t quite the blistering winger he once was. As such, Liverpool were happy to let him go on a free in the summer, but Trabzonspor will have every right to expect big moments from the iconic Egyptian. After receiving a hero’s welcome upon his arrival, Salah enjoyed a superb start to life in Turkey, scoring seven goals in his first seven league appearances, as well as three assists, proving he’s still an elite-level winger.

15

Bryan Mbeumo – Manchester United & Cameroon

So many top attacking talents have crumbled under the pressure of playing for Manchester United in recent years, but Bryan Mbeumo looks capable of avoiding that same fate at Old Trafford. The Cameroonian arrived from Brentford last summer, with the Red Devils more than happy to splash out on a £70 million deal.

Mbeumo picked up where he left off in London, delivering some fine performances which suggest he has what it takes to succeed at the Theatre of Dreams. He bagged 10 in his debut season, and that includes vital strikes against Liverpool and Tottenham. He is expected to only improve in Michael Carrick’s first full season, having made a bright enough start to 2026/27.

14

Rodrygo – Real Madrid & Brazil

The Real Madrid star is often pushed to the side thanks to the ever-growing brilliance of his partner in crime, Vinicius Jr, but it would be remiss to breeze past Rodrygo without waxing lyrical. Albeit the introverted half of the duo, and further thrown in the shadows by the likes of Diomande and Kylian Mbappe, his turn of pace and magic at his feet make him a strong option for this list.

Rodrygo’s concoction of a low centre of gravity and his ability to dance on either foot make him a nuisance for whichever full-back dares to stand up to him. At just 25 years of age, the Brazilian has north of 200 appearances for Los Blancos, with two La Liga titles and two Champions League crowns on his CV. Injuries have really slowed him down of late, but the deadly winger has every right to be on this star-studded list.

13

Jeremy Doku – Manchester City & Belgium

The explosiveness of Jeremy Doku gives defenders all sorts of problems as he bombs down the wing with a direct approach that reaped rewards for Manchester City last season. The Belgian winger had suffered recurring injury problems in the early stages of his Etihad career, but he’s thriving going into his fourth campaign with the Cityzens.

He has all the talent but just needs to add consistency, more goals and assists to his game, and he’ll be the real deal. On that front, he improved last term, with 14 assists and eight goals his best return yet at the Etihad. At times, he still struggles with making the right decision at the end of his mazy runs, but all the ingredients are there.

12

Anthony Gordon – Barcelona & England

Anthony Gordon joined Newcastle in January 2023 from then-cash-strapped Everton as an exciting youngster, and his game has come on leaps and bounds since his high-profile switch, which has led him to another in the form of Barcelona this summer.

Popping up with eight goal contributions in the league alone last term, the England international helped fire the Magpies back into the Champions League and to Carabao Cup success a season prior, too. Performance levels dropped in 2025/26 domestically, but with 10 goals in just 12 Champions League matches, it was only a matter of time before clubs above Newcastle in the pyramid came knocking on Gordon again, with Barcelona making the surprise acquisition.

It’s early days yet, but he looks to be a good fit for the Spanish club and could cement his status among the best wingers on the planet over the coming season after notching five assists and a goal in his first seven La Liga matches, helping him even earn a new nickname in Catalonia.

11

Bradley Barcola – Liverpool & France

REUTERS/Tom Nicholson

Bradley Barcola, 23, first caught the eye of and captivated the footballing world at Lyon. He rose through the club’s academy ranks between 2018 and 2022 before getting a crack at senior proceedings, and he couldn’t help himself but to bamboozle right-backs on a week-by-week basis upon graduating.

A poacher of the best talent France, as a nation, has to offer, PSG won the race for Barcola’s hotly contested signature in the summer of 2023 and, well, it didn’t take long for the Frenchman to settle in. Kylian Mbappe’s departure opened up a world of opportunity for the youngster, and he’s been at his roaring best ever since, impressing over the last two terms on his way to back-to-back Champions League glory.

All that has been enough to catch the eye of Liverpool. The Premier League giants have now landed him for a whopping £120m. If he shines in England, he could soon rise further up this list. A hat-trick for the Frenchman in the Champions League against LASK will certainly have his new fans excited.