Ballity

This season’s Premier League midfielders (2026/27, league games only): deep-lying playmaking vs creating. Rice is the best overall, Iwobi the top creator

U23 wingers, Venn diagram 🧩This season’s U23 wingers across the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A and Ligue 1 (2026/27), split into three Ballity profiles: Playmaking, Duelist and Box Impact. To make a circle, a player has to rank in the top 25% of his league’s winger pool for that role. Only three players made all three: Lamine Yamal, Matías Soulé and Gessime Yassine. Désiré Doué and Arda Güler sit in the Playmaking + Duelist overlap, while Ethan Mbappé and Giorgi Kvernadze combine Duelist with Box Impact. This is going to change during the season. Diomande on the rise. Who are the most interesting young wingers in Europe? 👇

Creator, duelist, box impact. In last season’s Premier League, only one winger did all three: Bukayo Saka.

Last season's best fullbacks in Europe's top 5 leagues (2025/26, league games only): the top 10 at defending, playmaking and attacking. Only Nuno Mendes and Reece James made all three.

Premier League wingers 26/27: Playmaking Winger rank vs Box Winger rank. - Five are elite at both with Tavernier leading the way. - Saka has shifted from a playmaking to a box winger - Barcola haven’t found his form yet.

LaLiga fullbacks 26/27: Offensive FB rank vs Defensive FB rank. Only four are elite at both: Grimaldo, Jorge Salinas, Juan Iglesias and Suazo. Xavi espart ranked as the best defensive FB in La Liga No Real Madrid or Barcelona FB among the top 4.

LaLiga midfielders 26/27: Carrier rank vs Creator rank. Bellingham⭐️

LaLiga wingers 26/27: Playmaking Winger rank vs Box Winger rank. Only five are elite at both: Yamal, Moleiro, Vinícius, Gordon and Güler.

Saliba being back in training for Arsenal, what does that mean for them. Despite Konsa having a great start to life in London having Saliba back is a huge thing. One of the best Ball-Playing and Reader CBs in the league and he is a perfect fit next to Gabriel. Integral to Arsenals buildup and this now offers Arsenal even more depth as one of Konsa or Saliba realistically has to play to lead the buildup because that isn’t Gabriel strongest skill.

Jan Paul van Hecke leading the way as the best ball-playing CB in the league this season.

Amazing talent but not the best just yet. His ranking vs other CBs as a stopper and reader in the UCL last season.

Vinícius or Diomande: who should start on Madrid's left? Vinicius will soon return fully for Real Madrid and it will be headache for Jose Mourinho to choose between him and Diomande. Diomande has had a great start to life in Madrid whilst Vini has started poorly. We compared their full 25/26 seasons role by role with Ballity's data. Radar: Vinícius wins 4 categories, Diomande 3. Ballity grade: Diomande 7.56, Vinícius 7.36. How Ballity reads wingers: every winger is scored in 4 roles, as a percentile vs their own league. 🎨 Playmaking Winger: creating chances (xA, key passes, big chances, crossing) Diomande 90, Vinícius 77. The biggest gap of all: big chances created, 89 vs 31. Diomande's xA is in the 97th percentile. Edge: Diomande, clearly. ⚔️ Duelist Winger: beating players 1v1 (ground duels, duel win %, dribbles, fouls won) Vinícius 96, Diomande 95. Diomande dribbles more (99th percentile), Vinícius wins more fouls (86 vs 59). Edge: dead even. 🎯 Box Winger: arriving in the box to score (npxG, shot quality, goals, finishing) Diomande 98, Vinícius 97. Goals per 90: 96th percentile for Vinícius, 91st for Diomande. Edge: even. 🏃 Wide Runner: attacking space on the break (break xG, fast breaks, wide channel) Vinícius 99, #1 of 58 in LaLiga. Diomande 68. Fast breaks: 94 vs 45. Give Vinícius space and it's over. Edge: Vinícius, by a mile. The extras: 💪 Physicality: Vinícius 86, Diomande 59 🛡️ Defensive contribution: Diomande 68, Vinícius 26 🌀 On-ball separation: Vinícius 99, Diomande 93 So who starts? Vinícius. Elite in 3 of 4 roles, and #1 in LaLiga at the one that wins big games: attacking space. This season agrees so far: Vinícius graded 7.27 (#3 of 26 LaLiga wingers), Diomande 6.95 (#4). Small samples, same story. Start Vinícius: • Big away games and Champions League nights, when Madrid sit deeper and break • Against high lines that leave space behind • When one player has to win the game on his own Start Diomande: • Against low blocks, when Madrid have the ball and need chances created • When the left winger has to press and track back • Off the bench against tired full-backs Verdict: Start them depending on the tactics of the game. With Vinicius needed in the biggest games. This is however dependent on him finding his old form again. Who would you start? 👇 25/26 stats: Vinícius in LaLiga, Diomande in the Bundesliga (Leipzig). Full profiles at ballity.com

The big problem for Manchester city is that you can't play a midfield with cherki and enzo since both are bad OOP. This makes it easy to attack the midfield something PSG utilized against them. Bouaddi has to be used as the 8. With enzo or cherki playing as the 10. Cherki also can be shifted to the RW.

Best signings so far this season. Disagree?

Playmaking winger and box winger in La liga. Moleiro has really broken through this season. A similar player to baena stylistically. You can also see how similar Gordon and Vinicius has been on theese two roles. Lookman is another intresting player who is effective in the box but lacks playmaking ability. Remember duelist winger which is the third key archetype for wingers are not in the plot. somethign Diomande is rated highly as.

The best goalkeepers in the Premier League so far What do you think about the scores?

The Serie A TOTS U23 A lot has changed in the italian league this season with young players getting chances a lot more than previous year. This season a lot of the most exciting young players are in the italian league. With players like Esposito, Paz and Ramon which top clubs across europe are tracking.