Few player profiles captivating the world football audience’s attention more than fleet-footed dribblers. Whether they are explosive progressors who eat up space before putting defenders on skates or playmakers who subtly weave their magic to carve up an entire defense, those superstars who can create something out of nothing but their own genius and athletic ability are more coveted an anyone.
That holds true for managers, too. Pep Guardiola has become infatuated with elite dribblers, and a couple of these recent additions will show up on this list of the best dribblers in world football today.
Other managers feel the same, as Carlo Ancelotti, for example, has always had a soft spot for flair dribblers like current superstars Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior. (Spoiler: They will show up, too.)
So to honor the most exciting players in world football, let’s take a look at the 10 best dribblers in the world in 2024.
10. Real Madrid FW Rodrygo Goes
Rodrygo Goes has produced some of the most ridiculous dribbling highlights in world football, even though he gets a fraction of the credit he deserves.
Perhaps Rodrygo is overshadowed by his Real Madrid and Brazil national teammate Vinicius Junior, but the former Santos prospect is a sensational game-breaker with the ball at his feet in his own right.
Rodrygo averaged 2.4 dribbles completed per game last season and is currently at 1.8 this season, improving his end product with 10 goals and 5 assists in a two-man forward position that suits him much better than masquerading as a 9 or right winger.
The stats don’t tell the full story either, because Rodrygo is more careful about when he picks out his dribbles. When he senses the time is right, he will play like a man possessed and find spaces where no other footballer could possibly find them.
9. Barcelona CM Pedri
Injuries have held Pedri back in the 2023/24 season, so his ranking may seem lower than it should be. If he were fully healthy, Pedri could shoot up into the top five, because the midfield playmaker is absolutely scintillating in tight spaces.
Pedri averaged 1.8 dribbles completed per game in last year’s Champions League and has ridiculous close control in tight spaces. He suits the Barcelona playing style perfectly with his little shimmies and subtle moves to create space.
8. Bayer Leverkusen AM Florian Wirtz
As excellent as Pedri is, Barcelona, if all goes well, could land an even better playmaker in Florian Wirtz, who is one of the most talented footballers on the planet and has been an elite Bundesliga player for a few years now despite only being 20.
Wirtz is working on his fourth Bundesliga campaign with more than two dribbles completed per contest, as he has played a vital role in Bayer Leverkusen securing the league title, making himself a Ballon d’Or candidate in the process.
You wouldn’t bet against Wirtz winning a few of those by the time his career is up. The Leverkusen superstar has 11 goals and 11 assists in 2023/24, as his already-excellent technical powers and starting to peak, and they are showing up in a dribbling style that remains exciting but is becoming even more pinpoint and effective.
7. Girona LW Savio
Savio is a game-changer. Manchester City are plucking him from LaLiga title contenders Girona for the near future, because Pep Guardiola knows the Brazilian winger is a special talent.
This season, Savio has scored eight goals with eight assists, averaging nearly three dribbles completed. In fact, his average of dribbles per game in LaLiga is a shave of a point hire than Vinicius Jr.’s, which speaks to the 20-year-old’s quality and impact.
There is no limit to what Savio could achieve at Manchester City. In Savio, Jeremy Doku, and Jack Grealish, Man City are assembling the scariest group of winger talent in European football.
6. PSG RW Ousmane Dembele
Ousmane Dembele may never be healthy or consistent enough to live up to his billing as a Ballon d’Or-level player, but the former Barcelona, Dortmund, and Rennes star is still undoubtedly a world-class footballer.
He surprised many by moving to Paris this past summer from Barcelona and has been the main winger partner for Kylian Mbappe, performing a more creative role to make up for his lack of finishing.
Dembele has racked up eight assists with PSG cruising to the Ligue 1 title, and he’s been very good in the Champions League, where Paris are finally back to the semifinals.
The French international is averaging 2.5 dribbles completed per game in Ligue 1, though it hasn’t been since his days with Dortmund that he’s averaged three in a league campaign.
Ambipedal, Dembele remains one of the most dangerous on-the-ball threats in European football with his flexibility, agility, and short-area explosiveness.
5. Napoli LW Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Speaking of ambipedal and explosive wingers, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a more effective winger who continues to dazzle world football fans in spite of Napoli’s huge step back in 2023/24 without manager Luciano Spalletti.
Victor Osimhen’s injury has meant more responsibility on Kvaratskhelia’s plate, so his dribbles completed per game have increased from 2.2 to 2.7 in the 2023/24 season.
Kvara could have fewer assists, but he is already closing in on last season’s goals scored total. The Georgian sensation is sitting on 10 goals, while he hit 12 in the 2022/23 campaign – his first in a top five league in Europe.
The 23-year-old left winger leads Napoli by example and by inspiring the fans that they can achieve more. After winning the Scudetto for the Partenopei in 2023 for the first time since Diego Armando Maradona’s heyday, many around Europe are wondering if he could head to Barcelona or another elite club for a new challenge.
4. PSG LW Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe is the best goal-scorer on this list of elite dribblers, but he is still very much among the cream of the crop of skillful dribblers in world football today.
Ligue 1 have a ton of exciting dribblers, including standouts like Edon Zhegrova and Rayan Cherki who just missed out on this list. Yet Mbappe remains the choice of them all.
Mbappe knows how to set defenders up and then turn them inside out. He is so good – better than anyone on this planet – at creating that sliver of space for his own shot.
Few use their bodies as effectively as Mbappe, who has learned to save himself and become an even bigger monster in the most important games. He is averaging 3.1 dribbles per game in the Champions League, having recently scored the brace to sink Barcelona in a quarterfinal Remontada.
3. Manchester City LW Jeremy Doku
Although there are handful of better players on this list than Jeremy Doku, the Belgian international is as good as anyone on this planet at the pure art of dribbling.
Doku scares every defender in one-on-ones, and that has been the case long before he joined Manchester City as a highly underrated talent for Rennes. But Pep Guardiola and the astute City scouts certainly weren’t overlooking him.
The 21-year-old has taken well to the Premier League, averaging 3.4 dribbles completed per game. He is averaging over four per game in the Champions League, even though he’s only started one game.
If Doku played all 90 minutes of every game and had his way, he could complete close to 10 dribbles per match. Under Guardiola, Doku has license but has become honed in on dribbling less to help the team maintain possession. But when it’s time to cut loose and Man City need that extra spark, Doku will provide it. He is unstoppable.
2. Bayern Munich AM Jamal Musiala
Jeremy Doku may have more impressive dribbling statistics when looking at the raw data, but it is much harder to rack up that volume as a playmaker.
Jamal Musiala has mastered the art of picking your spots and being lethally effective when deciding to drop the shoulder, turn, or step over a few defenders.
Bayern Munich have struggled in the league in front of the new threat of a Xabi Alonso-coached Bayer Leverkusen machine, but they are still through to the Champions League semifinals and very much a top power in European football.
Their attacking midfield sensation is averaging a career-high 3.6 dribbles completed per game in the Bundesliga with 2.9 per match in the Champions League. He is sitting on a second straight season of double-digit goals, often creating those scoring opportunities for himself from nothing.
Where would Bayern be without Musiala? It’s a question that scares some fans, especially with the likes of Manchester City and even Real Madrid lurking. Guardiola must be dreaming of having a midfielder like Musiala with his skill, intelligence, and cool head in front of goal.
1. Real Madrid LW Vinicius Junior
The king of dribbling in world football today, Vinicius Junior has been a regular on the list of the best players in the world and has consistently been an absolute menace to defenders off the dribble.
Vinicius Jr. averaged 3.9 dribbles completed per game in last year’s Champions League and is at 3.0 per game in this year’s edition of the competition. The Brazilian superstar tends to bring his best game on European nights, fulfilling the clutch gene that is so often asked of superstars.
Within LaLiga, Vini Jr. takes some brutal fouls and deals with controversy after controversy due to the rampant racism in Spain (and Europe as a whole).
The 23-year-old surely frustrates the racist clowns even more by carving their team up on the pitch, as he averaged 3.4 dribbles completed per game last season and 2.8 per game this season in LaLiga, which is the toughest league in Europe’s top five to find space like this.
Vinicius Jr. wins with a mix of intelligence, intensity, work rate, and athletic explosiveness. He is relentless and never quits on his team, no matter how tough the opposition is or the adversity he faces on the pitch. So many in the next generation of footballers will point to Vini Jr. as their inspiration.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.