Forward of the contemporary Premier League season which gets underway on Friday, Sports activities Mole delves serve into the archives and picks the 10 excellent players ever to grace the division.
It is well documented that the Premier League is now a long way and away the realm’s richest domestic league, and with it, the pull and energy to appeal to the realm’s excellent is solid.
That has been the case for a long way of the Premier League’s existence, as many of the sport’s most attention-grabbing players possess graced these shores at some level.
Narrowing it down to lawful the 10 excellent to play in England’s high flight over the previous 33 years is an exhausting job, nonetheless person that is often debated up and down the country, one year in, one year out.
Right here at Sports activities Mole, we now possess tried to set apart apart these debates to mattress, so on the eve of the contemporary 2025-26 Premier League season, here is our countdown of the 10 excellent Premier League players of all time.
10: Ryan Giggs
Starting off the record is the Premier League’s most a success player, as Giggs’ 13 titles is unmatched by any totally different player, and is a feat that can possibly by no methodology be broken, as he maintained world-class requirements for over 20 years within the Manchester United first group of workers.
No player has performed more video games for Man United than Giggs (963), and 632 of them came within the Premier League, the set apart the Welshman remains the all-time document abet holder with 162, which is 43 bigger than the next very top.
Giggs can be within the 100 club for objectives, notching 114 across his PL profession, and his achievements possess been widely acknowledged, being awarded an OBE, and winning the BBC Sports activities Persona Award in 2009, the the same one year he gained the PFA Players’ Participant of the Yr award.
9: Sergio Aguero
While being the scorer of the Premier League’s most renowned intention, Aguero’s profession within the division goes manner beyond that, as he turned into continuously among the league’s most attention-grabbing players for a decade.
That final-gasp winner against Queens Park Rangers capped off a dream debut season at Manchester City for Aguero in 2011-12, clinching the title with 24 objectives that one year, nonetheless the success saved on coming for heaps of years in City blue for the Argentine striker.
Aguero gained five titles in his time at City, scoring 184 PL objectives, leaving him sixth within the all-time standings, with a Golden Boot sitting on his mantlepiece from 2014-15, and a statue of him celebrating that title-winning intention from 2012 delivery air the Etihad, leaving a legacy that can final for generations.
8: Luis Suarez
Despite simplest spending three years within the Premier League with Liverpool, Suarez turned into simply unplayable, as he turned into the league’s excellent player sooner than a excessive-profile switch to Barcelona, lawful after falling narrowly fast of dragging Liverpool to the title nearly single-handedly.
In that 2013-14 marketing and marketing campaign, Suarez equalled the then-document intention haul for a 38-sport Premier League season, despite missing the primary few weeks with suspension, notching 31 objectives in 33 appearances as Liverpool performed 2nd within the serve of Man City.
That bought him a Premier League Participant of the Season award and a European Golden Shoe, nonetheless also a £65m switch to Barca, leaving the Premier League with 92 intention involvements in only 110 appearances.
7: Mohamed Salah
Liverpool significant a talismanic presence to step up after Suarez left, and three years later, the club spent £36m on a man who would stride on to turn into one of the club’s excellent ever players – Mohamed Salah from Roma.
After failing to invent the grade at Chelsea, Salah has been nurtured at Anfield, and in return, the Egyptian has delivered 186 Premier League objectives and counting, Liverpool’s first two PL titles, four PL Golden Boots and two PL Participant of the Season gongs, besides as a Puskas Award for factual measure serve in 2018.
Salah is the excellent full of life player within the current high 10 goalscorers, and he simplest wants two to switch above Andy Cole, and 27 to switch level with Harry Kane in 2nd, and thinking about he netted 29 in a outstanding 2024-25 marketing and marketing campaign, more records potentially wait for.
6: Roy Keane
The Premier League has no longer continuously been about glance-catching attacking players, as Roy Keane’s legacy proves that gritty, box-to-box midfielders are equally important.
A abnormal fixture within the Man United midfield for over a decade, Keane gained seven titles below Sir Alex Ferguson, making the PFA’s Team of the Century in 2007, and winning the PFA and FWA Participant of the Season awards for the 1999-00 marketing and marketing campaign.
A tear-setter of males, the combative midfielder gained even extra notoriety for his clashes with Patrick Vieira within the Man United-Arsenal rivalry within the unhurried-90s and early-00s, and it turned into no longer lawful that aggressive fashion that introduced success, as he offered an attacking chance too, with 62 intention involvements in his 366 Premier League appearances.
5: Cristiano Ronaldo
Even supposing the majority of Ronaldo’s successes came at Accurate Madrid, he performed at this kind of level for Manchester United within the mid-to-unhurried-2000s, Los Blancos felt the want to damage the realm-document switch rate to bring him to the Bernabeu.
Forming a formidable partnership with Wayne Rooney at Man United, Ronaldo turned into share of Sir Alex Ferguson’s side that gained three consecutive titles between 2006-07 and 2008-09, winning the Ballon d’Or in 2008 and two PL Participant of the Season awards, besides as a European Golden Shoe for the 2007-08 season.
Ronaldo returned to Veteran Trafford in 2021, scoring 18 objectives in 30 appearances despite the reality United underperformed that season, and that took him into the Premier League’s notorious 100 club.
4: Frank Lampard
Along with captain John Terry, no player encapsulates Chelsea moderately as mighty as Lampard, who in 13 years of provider, gained every main honour there turned into to find, nonetheless the Premier League so often noticed the very excellent of him.
Even sooner than though-provoking to Stamford Bridge, Lampard turned into a abnormal at West Ham United for five years, scoring the primary 24 of his eventual tally of 177 Premier League objectives, which ranks him seventh within the all-time record, despite being a midfielder.
Lampard also registered over 100 assists in his Premier League profession, which introduced three league titles, a Premier League Participant of the Season award in 2004-05, and induction into the Hall of Reputation, amassing over 600 appearances.
3: Kevin De Bruyne
In future years, the one player that can come to describe the dominant technology below Pep Guardiola at Man City will completely be playmaking genius De Bruyne, who has lawful called time on his profession on the Etihad after 10 notorious years.
With six PL winners medals locked in his cabinet, De Bruyne’s person haul can be hugely impressive, being named Premier League Participant of the Season twice, in 2019-20 and 2021-22, and earning a neighborhood within the FIFPRO World XI five years in a row between 2020 and 2024.
Handiest Ryan Giggs has registered more assists within the Premier League than De Bruyne’s 119, nonetheless the Belgian managed that in only 288 suits, as he is widely considered the correct playmaker ever to play on these shores.
2: Wayne Rooney
After bursting onto the scene as a 16-one year-archaic at Everton, Rooney went on to be pleased 13 hugely a success years down the M62 at Man United, as he turned into arguably the excellent attacker who might possibly possibly retain a candle to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo correct through their height years within the unhurried-2000s and early-2010s.
Rooney performed 67 video games for Everton sooner than leaving for £25m as an 18-one year-archaic, and he would stride on to find five Premier League titles at Veteran Trafford, besides as the PL Participant of the Season award in 2009-10 season, despite no longer winning the league that one year.
The Englishman is one of lawful three players to this level to amass bigger than 200 Premier League objectives, netting 208 in his 491 appearances, together with one of the excellent ever, against rivals Man City in 2011, while also registering a truly impressive 103 assists.
1: Thierry Henry
While the Premier League has been home to heaps of world-class abilities who will stride down as the excellent players of all time, Arsenal chronicle Henry takes high space on this record, following eight majestic years in North London that introduced unprecedented phases of success to the club.
It turned into the Premier League the set apart Arsenal had their most attention-grabbing days below Arsene Wenger, and Henry performed a central feature within the majority of them, winning two league titles with the Gunners, together with an invincible title in 2003-04, changing into the primary club in over a century to pause that feat.
Henry gained the European Golden Shoe in serve-to-serve seasons in 2003-04 and 2004-05 following his goalscoring exploits within the Premier League, the set apart he has four Golden Boots on his mantlepiece, and two Participant of the Season awards, while also coming 2nd within the Ballon d’Or in 2003.
In honest 258 appearances, Henry notched a whopping 175 objectives, ranking him eighth overall, and 74 assists, many of which came correct through the cross 2002-03 marketing and marketing campaign when he registered 20 assists in a single season, a document that has quiet by no methodology been beaten, on high of 24 objectives within the the same marketing and marketing campaign.
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