The 506th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the most influential footballers of the season in 60 leagues around the world. The index used to rank the players is calculated on the basis of their performances in six areas of the game thanks to the data exclusively produced by our partners Impect, the minutes played and the results obtained.
The highest score overall was recorded for Mohamed Salah, ahead of two Barcelona players: Lamine Yamal and Pedri González. Two other Liverpool footballers top the list for defensive positions: Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen) heads the rankings for attacking midfielders, while Kylian Mbappé is ahead of Viktor Gyökeres for centre forwards.
The six areas of the game considered are aerial play (with Alexander Sörloth at the top of the list), ground defence (Moisés Caicedo), distribution (Nico Schlotterbeck), take on (Vinícius Júnior), chance creation (Lamine Yamal) and finishing (Ousmane Dembélé). Yamal aside, three other U20s feature among the 300 players listed (50 per position): Estêvão Willian (Palmeiras, on loan from Chelsea), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona) and Jorrel Hato (Ajax).
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Top 50 most influential players, by position
Domestic league matches, current season until 26/05/2025
Areas of the game: AER: aerial play, DFS: ground defence, DIS: distribution, TAK: take on, CCR: chance creation, FIN: finishing