Stats Reveal Four Best Players Across Every Position In Europe In 2020

The top four best footballers in every position - from goalkeeper to striker - based on their performance over the past year have been revealed.

The data used by WhoScored.com takes into account every game played in 2020, across Europe's top five leagues, to give each player an average rating out of 10.

There's no surprise in some categories with Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne topping the central midfielder stats and Bayern Munich goal machine Robert Lewandowski proving himself the best out-and-out striker - just ahead of the ageless Zlatan Ibrahimovic (second), Harry Kane (third) and Erling Haaland (fourth).

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes is also ranked as Europe's No 1 attacking midfielder after his incredible numbers in 2020, finishing one spot above Bayern's Thomas Muller.

The battle of the left-sided attackers was particularly close with PSG ace Kylian Mbappe (first), just edging out his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo (second).

Jack Grealish made it into the top four in this category - edging out Sadio Mane as the top Premier League player in this position.

In fact, there's only one Liverpool player in the countdown. Mohamed Salah finishes as the third best right-winger, behind Angel Di Maria in second and some guy called Lionel Messi way ahead in first.

Central defenders also sees Southampton's impressive Jannik Vestergaard sneak into the top four, just one spot below Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos.

The WhoScored full top four for each position is below.

Goalkeepers

4. Walter Benitez (Nice) - 6.92

3. Nick Pope (Burnley) - 6.94

2. Emiliano Martinez (Arsenal/Aston Villa) - 6.98

1. Alexandre Oukidja (Metz) - 7.11

Right-backs

4. Achraf Hakimi (Borussia Dortmund/Inter Milan) - 7.13

3. Juan Cuadrado (Juventus) - 7.19

2. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City) - 7.30

1. Fabien Centonze (Metz) - 7.36

Left-backs

4. Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) - 7.31

3. Robin Gosens (Atalanta) - 7.31

2. Theo Hernandez (AC Milan) - 7.36

1. Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund) - 7.48

Centre-backs

4. Jannik Vestergaard (Southampton) - 7.13

3. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) - 7.13

2. James Tarkowski (Burnley) - 7.14

1. Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) - 7.32

Centre midfielders

4. Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich) - 7.43

3. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) - 7.50

2. Rodrigo de Paul (Udinese) - 7.56

1. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) - 7.72

Attacking midfielders

4. Hakan Calhanoglu (AC Milan) - 7.46

3. Papu Gomez (Atalanta) 7.49

2. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) - 7.56

1. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) - 7.68

Right-wingers

4. Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo) - 7.39

3. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 7.49

2. Angel Di Maria (PSG) - 7.50

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 8.54

Left-wingers

4. Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) - 7.45

3. Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin) - 7.57

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) - 7.86

1. Kylian Mbappe (PSG) - 8.01

Strikers

4. Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) - 7.58

3. Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 7.64

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) - 7.74

1. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) - 8.17

Do the stats match up with how you think each player has performed in 2020? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image credit: PA Images

Topics: Football News, Football Lists, Football, Serie A, Ligue 1, Premier League, WhoScored, La Liga

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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