Who are the Premier League’s best wingers in 2023/24? | OneFootball

Who are the best wingers in the Premier League right now?

We’re getting into the business end of the season, which feels like the perfect point to look back and see which players and wingers in particular, have stood out so far. Which wingers do full-backs hate facing the most and which wingers have contributed the most for their sides so far in 2023/24.

We’ve used the Twenty3 Sport Discovery Tool to find the best players in each position. For the top five wingers, the Discovery Tool rates a player’s per 90 output for a number of key stats to produce a percentage score. We have also weighted each stat from 1-5 to highlight the most important aspects of a striker’s play style. This is the Squawka Score.

Each player’s stats are compared to the average output of wingers across the past three seasons of big-five European league football based on an automatically calculated minutes threshold. The more they rank in the 95th percentile and above for each metric, the higher the Squawka Score.

With the 2023/24 season well underway, here are the best wingers in the Premier League ranked by their Squawka Score from the campaign so far, with only players who have 1,080+ minutes under their belt considered (half the amount available).

=5. Cole Palmer

After scoring winning goals in both the UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield, many were surprised when Man City allowed Cole Palmer to leave this summer. But what has been their loss has been Chelsea’s gain. The now full England international has scored more goals (10) and provided more assists (6) than any other Chelsea player this season (10), while his recent strike against Wolves made him the first ever U21 player to score 10+ goals in a single Premier League campaign for the Blues. Palmer figures in the top three Chelsea players for chances created, shots per 90 minutes and possessions won in the final third per 90 minutes this season, further exemplifying how great this piece of business was for the Blues.

After his performance against Fulham earlier in the season, former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole even admitted on TNT Sports that Man City had made a mistake selling him.

“You can’t fault Manchester City, they don’t make mistakes. But I think they have on this occasion.” He said.

“This young man’s come here and already, when you walk up the Fulham Road, you talk to Chelsea fans, ‘who are you asking to come and watch’, and you want to come and watch him. “They’re used to that this club, they’ve seen great players over the years, they excite them and get them off their seats. Cole Palmer’s going to be a massive, massive player for this club.”

Now Liverpool’s all-time top goalscorer in the Premier League and the player with the most left-footed goals in Premier League history, Mohamed Salah just keeps on going. The Egyptian King still sits just two goals off the Premier League Golden Boot and Erling Haaland, despite being away at AFCON with Egypt and picking up an injury.

No player has been directly involved in more goals (22) this season, with 13 of his goal involvements coming in his 10 appearances at Anfield, only failing to score or assist in just one home game this term. Before leaving for AFCON, as well has having the most goals and assists, Salah also had the most shots on target, most Big Chances scored, most Big Chances created, most open-play chances created and most touches in opp. box and now, as he looks set to return from injury will be hoping to top these metrics once again.

Of course, we all know the goals (and assists) only tell half the story when it comes to Salah. The man is just magic. One of the very best to do it.

Honourable mentions

Michael Olise

Michael Olise would have been top among wingers with a Squawka Score of 78%, but didn’t quite make the cut, having not played the required amount of minutes so far this season. With that said, what a season the 22-year-old is having despite Crystal Palace’s struggles. With six goals and three assists in 11 Premier League appearances (8 starts), including eight goal involvements in his last five starts, he has lit up the division when he has played, but injuries have taken their tole in what has been a stop start campaign.

Anthony Gordon

It took him a while to get going following his controversial move from Everton in January but simply put, Anthony Gordon has been excellent. The 22-year-old has seven goals and five assists to his name and has turned himself to Newcastle’s big game player, especially at home. He has scored against each of the five ‘Big Six’ sides he has faced at St. James’ Park this term, with 71.4% of his goals coming against Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea and can complete the set against Tottenham in April. Another huge part of his game, that may be even more important to Eddie Howe’s Newcastle — and maybe slightly more intangible — is Gordon’s relentless work rate. He never stops working and can often make things happen from nothing through sheer power of will.

=3. Leon Bailey

Many people expected Leon Bailey to warm the bench this campaign after the arrival of Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen, but he has continued to prove his worth to Unai Emery, popping up some important goals and assists and averaging a goal involvement every 84 minutes this campaign (7 goals, 6 assists).

Despite starting just five Premier League games at Villa Park this season, the Jamaican international has been directly involved in 10 home goals, scoring the opener against Man City and Burnley with his last two home strikes.

Phil Foden seems to be coming into his own for his beloved club and is now a key player for Pep Guardiola and that is beginning to translate to the international level under Gareth Southgate. The 23-year-old has stepped up massively in the absence of Belgian magician Kevin De Bruyne, providing seven assists, which is a new personal best in a Premier League campaign and scored eight goals in 23 appearances, including a hat-trick in a must win game against Brentford in his last away game. At the age of 23, he already has as many Premier League hat-tricks as Eden Hazard, Sadio Mané, Gareth Bale and Steven Gerrard (2).

He is one of just two players in the Premier League this season to complete 30+ take-ons, win 30+ fouls, have 30+ touches in the opposition box, create 30+ chances and be directly involved in 10+ goals alongside Bukayo Saka, while no Premier League player has been directly involved in more goals across all competitions than the Englishman (8) in 2024.

=1. Son Heung-min

Despite being away at the Asia Cup, Son Heung-min still remains Tottenham’s top scorer in the league in 2023/24 with 12 goals and firmly in the hunt for the Golden Boot, currently sat four goals behind Erling Haaland. After a disappointing campaign in 2022/23, Son is back to his best under Ange Postecoglou, scoring 12 goals and providing six assists in his 21 appearances, including the assist for Brennan Johnson’s last minute winner against Brighton in his first appearance since South Korea’s disappointing exit from the Asian Cup.

He has been incredibly consistent since his move from Bayer Leverkusen, scoring 10+ league goals in each of the last eight Premier League seasons, whilst also becoming the first Asian player in Premier League history to score 100+ goals, provide 50+ assists and win the Golden Boot. Earlier this season, he also became the first player in Premier League history to score away at four different reigning champions (vs. Leicester, vs. Chelsea, vs. Liverpool,vs. Man City), proving once again that he is a big game player.

Bukayo Saka hasn’t been around long enough to be put into Salah’s class just yet. ‘Yet’ being the key word there. It’s only a matter of time until the England international goes down as a legend for club and country. This season alone, he has 10 goals and seven assists in 23 appearances, while he’s Arsenal’s top performer when it comes to chances created and big chances created. One of the most ruthlessly effective wingers on the planet right now.

He is one of just three Premier League players to score 10+ goals and provide 10+ assists across all competitions so far this season alongside Darwin Nunez and Ollie Watkins and as well as having the most touches inside the opposition box in the division, he is also the only player to complete 25+ take-ons, create 25+ open-play chances, win possession in the final third 25+ times, make 25+ tackles and have 5+ goals and 5+ assists.

At the age of 22, he has already scored 50+ times for his boyhood club Arsenal across all competitions, becoming the youngest player to achieve this feat since Frank Stapleton in 1978 and is the first Arsenal player to score 10+ goals and provide 10+ assist across all competitions in back-to-back seasons since Alexis Sanchez in 2017.

Infact, as Sky Sports found out, Bukayo Saka has both scored more goals (51-50) and provided more assists (50-43) than Cristiano Ronaldo in their first 210 games across all competitions.

Squawka Score metrics and weighting

Here are the metrics used and weighting given to each metric to come up with the overall Squawka Score: