Three Premier League superstars are amongst the top five performers across Europe’s best leagues heading into the second international break of the season.
The Premier League season is already delivering just seven matches into the new campaign with Liverpool top, Man City and Arsenal challenging again, while Man United are mid-table after an agonising start.
Top performances have seen several superstars deliver the goods, with Erling Haaland continuing his goal scoring heroics and Cole Palmer entering his second season at Chelsea as one of the game’s fastest-rising players.
Elsewhere across Europe has seen Kylian Mbappe settle into his new life at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich attempting to win back the Bundesliga title during Vincent Kompany’s first season in charge.
Amidst the chaos of domestic and European football, Sofascore has crunched the numbers to reveal the top 20 performing players across Europe’s biggest leagues – with some surprising results.
Three Premier League stars are among the top five performers across Europe’s top leagues
Liverpool are top of the Premier League with a win over Crystal Palace at the weekend
Cole Palmer (centre) appears to have started his Chelsea season where he left off last term
Outside of the top five rated players sees two Barcelona prodigies in Raphinha and teenager Lamine Yamal take sixth and seventh spots across the top 20 competing stars.
Yamal in particular has continued to thrive since winning the European Championship with Spain in the summer and is showing no signs of falling off the radar in the way that other young blossoming talents have before.
The 17-year-old has already got five assists and four LaLiga goals in the opening months of the season to put himself in the mix with Europe’s best attackers.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo (7.80) is named in eighth with Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Valverde matching his score after both started the campaign strongly with their respective teams.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah (7.79) was picked in 10th spot with a score of 7.79 reflective of his continued impact at Liverpool under new manage Arne Slot.
The Egyptian has been influential in helping the Reds climb to surprise Premier League leaders having only lost just one of their first seven matches of the season, with Salah scoring four times and registering the same number of assists.
Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo (7.70) is one of the surprise candidates in the top 20 with his six goals putting him level with Cole Palmer in the Premier League goalscoring charts.
Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen (7.67) is the only Premier League shot-stopper to make the cut sits 17th in the best player standings after making countless contributions to help the Foxes avoid relegation.
Tottenham’s James Maddison (7.64) and Everton forward Dwight McNeil see out the final spots in the performer rankings to make it eight Premier League representatives in the combined list of Europe’s top performing players.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (left) is joined by Barcelona teen Lamine Yamal (right) in the top 10
Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was the only Premier League shot-stopper included
5. Erling Haaland (8.06)
The name that many expected would be top sits fifth as Erling Haaland continues to be the world’s most formidable goal scorer having already bagged 10 Premier League goals this season including back-to-back hat-tricks.
Those that tipped Haaland to win a third consecutive Golden Boot award so far look to be on the money with the Man City star already four goals clear in the league’s top scorer charts and not looking likely of slowing down.
Haaland’s all-round link-up play and the way he sometimes goes missing in the biggest fixtures are rare negatives of his game and is one possible factor that he has been criticised on.
Rodri’s season-ending injury has piled greater pressure on City’s other stars to deliver results in his absence and Haaland is continuing to fire Pep Guardiola’s title defenders to glory.
Erling Haaland sits fifth in the overall player standings after a strong start to the season
Those that tipped Haaland to win a third consecutive Golden Boot look to be on the money
4. Achraf Hakimi (8.05)
The Moroccan is the only defender to feature in the top five and is deserving of his No 4 pick as Achraf Hakimi enters his fourth season at Paris Saint-Germain.
His time in France has seen Hakimi recognised among Europe’s best defenders and help the club to top of the Ligue 1 table during what many believe will be the most competitive season yet.
PSG haven’t conceded more than one goal in any league fixture Hakimi has played in this season, with a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Champions League a rare low.
Achraf Hakimi is the only defender to feature in the top five and is deserving of his No.4 pick
3. Cole Palmer (8.14)
If his first season at Chelsea was impressive then Cole Palmer is doing his best to beat that, with his recent performances making him one of Europe’s best players.
Six goals and five assists across seven Premier League outings, not to mention scoring all four of Chelsea’s strikes in their win over Brighton, has seen Palmer receive renewed plaudits.
Even the supremely confident 22-year-old couldn’t have imagined life in London going this well and if Palmer can crack the nut of becoming England’s main star then the sky is the limit for one of the world’s best creators.
He was named as England’s Player of the Year after reporting for international duty and is now hoping his performances will reward him with more regular Three Lions minutes.
Cole Palmer is continuing to shine in his second season at Chelsea after a standout debut term
The creative talent has scored six goals and five assists across seven Premier League outings
2. Florian Wirtz (8.17)
One of just two top five spots taken by non-Premier League players is Florian Wirtz as the German forward continues where he left off with Bayer Leverkusen after helping guide the club to a magical Bundesliga title last season.
Wirtz has scored six goals and registered one assist across all competitions so far this season and is attracting pressing interest from Premier League and other European clubs keen on recruiting him.
The 21-year-old is still developing and has weaknesses that will be ironed out, but Wirtz is quickly becoming one of Europe’s most dangerous and classy finishers with his efforts seeing him receive another call-up to Germany’s international squad.
One of just two top five spots taken by non-Premier League players is Germany star Florian Wirtz
Bukayo Saka is the best player across Europe’s top leagues based on Arsenal performances
Saka was rewarded with a new bumper contract in the summer and has starred with two goals and seven assists in just seven games
1. Bukayo Saka (8.23)
The Arsenal and England star continues to be of ever-increasing importance at the Emirates as Mikel Arteta looks to finally beat rivals Man City to the title.
Saka was rewarded with a new bumper contract in the summer and has starred with two goals and seven assists in just seven Premier League games this season.
His defensive ability and commitment to Arsenal’s press also makes him an important asset when out of possession with Saka at times being asked to sit in an attacking wing back position.
The 23-year-old is becoming a leader within Arsenal’s set-up after years of Premier League development and if the Gunners do go all the way then it will largely be helped by Saka’s star quality.
