Ranking the 10 best wingers in world football for 2023

Some of the most important players in world football are wingers.

They are entrusted with creating chances, scoring goals, stretching the pitch horizontally, testing defenses with vertical runs, easing pressure off strikers, manufacturing space for teammates, progressing the ball as dribblers, and completing take-ons to destabilize the defense.

The best wingers in world football are capable of changing games on their own while also being a consistent thorn in the side of the defense.

Let’s rank the 10 best wingers in the world right now in 2023.

10. Manchester City RW Riyad Mahrez

Riyad Mahrez has cooled off a bit, and there are a number of quality wingers at Manchester City. Yet Mahrez’s technical class and accomplishments over the years mean that he must be considered one of the best wingers in the world.

The likes of Domenico Berardi, Kingsley Coman, and Luis Díaz are certainly in the discussion, but Mahrez’s touch and final ball are on another level.

A star for the Leicester City side that famously won the Premier League, Mahrez has more than lived up to the hype for City.

He tends to play his best football in the Champions League, which is important for a side that has often been criticized for their performances in the competition.

Mahrez has three goals and two assists in under 500 minutes this year in the Champions League, averaging 2.4 key passes per game.

9. Sassuolo LW Armand Laurienté

One of the newest breakout stars in world football, Armand Laurienté absolutely deserves a seat at the table of the best wingers in world football.

Sassuolo teammate Domenico Berardi has been doing it for longer and plays at a rarer position on the right-hand side, but since Berardi spent most of the season struggling for fitness, Laurienté’s breakout has been all the more important.

An elite player in Serie A, Laurienté has stepped up his game since joining from Lorient. The young French winger is a nightmare for defenders to contend with. He can beat them almost at will. Laurienté is averaging 2.5 key passes per game and 2.4 dribbles completed per match in 2022/23. Plus, he is providing an end product with seven goals and six assists.

8. Manchester City LW Jack Grealish

Although Jack Grealish has been criticized for not scoring and assisting as often as other players, the young Premier League standout has proven to be worth the money Manchester City spent to pry him away from Aston Villa.

An exciting player to watch on the ball, Grealish never stops working for his team. His pressing and progression were crucial in Man City’s Champions League demolition of Bayern München.

Grealish consistently creates chaos, opening up so much space for his teammates. He, along with Kevin De Bruyne, deserves a lot of praise for helping facilitate Erling Haaland’s record-breaking goal-scoring.

7. Manchester United LW Marcus Rashford

Staying in the city of Manchester United, Marcus Rashford has been playing up to his potential in the 2022/23 season, breaking out again under new manager Erik ten Hag.

Rashford is a goal-getter with prodigious technical quality, and he is starting to trust his own reading of the game now that he has more confidence in a role where he can go for goal often.

This season, Rashford has scored 15 goals and 4 assists in the Premier League. He also has 12 goals and 3 assists between the Europa League and League Cup. When it comes to making a difference in the final third and providing a goal-scoring threat, few are better on the wing than Rashford. He is just scratching the surface.

6. AC Milan LW Rafael Leão

Rafael Leão put on a counterattacking clinic in Milan’s vital second-leg draw with Napoli, providing yet another MVP-level performance for the Rossoneri as they eliminated the current leaders of Serie A.

He crafted the goal Milan scored from nothing, taking on the entire Napoli defense before setting up Olivier Giroud.

Unselfish, explosive, and highly skilled, Leão is a dream on the wing. He is one of the most special athletes in world football right now, combining that with a team-first mentality that lends itself to tireless take-ons and chances created. With all due respect to Giroud, Leão’s numbers could be even better with a world-class striker in his prime.

5. Arsenal RW Bukayo Saka

When it comes to unselfishness, Bukayo Saka is the epitome of what it means to be a winger who gives everything for the team.

Saka is Arsenal’s most important goal-scorer and chance-creator in the final third, giving the Gunners the end product they need to challenge Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

But Saka is also adept at tracking back, holding width for the other players, and absorbing pressure as a dribbler without ceding possession.

The young England international has 12 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League this season. Hitting the double-digit mark in both goals and assists is a sign a winger is world-class, and Saka is indeed in that bracket. Ever-improving, Saka adds so much more to Arsenal than the goals and assists he directly contributes.

4.  Liverpool RW Mohamed Salah

Although the 2022/23 season has been a rough one for Liverpool and Mohamed Salah, the experienced right winger remains one of the best wingers in world football and his team’s star man.

Without Salah, Liverpool would be in Chelsea territory and in even direr straits than they are right now.

Salah is one of the most prolific players in the history of the Premier League. A rare talent, Salah has scored more than 20 goals in four different Premier League seasons, including an unthinkable 32 in his first season with the club from AS Roma back in 2017/18. Even this season in a down year with Liverpool crumbling, Salah still has 15 goals and 7 assists.

3. Napoli LW Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

As brilliant as Salah has been throughout his career, he has already been overtaken by world football’s latest breakout sensation, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Napoli.

The young Georgian winger is beyond words and has inspired Napoli to become the best team in Serie A and a team that can continue to challenge at the Champions League level.

Kvaratskhelia has needed no adjustment period to Serie A, scoring 12 goals with 10 assists and leaving countless fans worldwide in awe.

What he means to Napoli is impossible to describe in words; you need to see the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona light up when he plays.

At 22, Kvaratskhelia is already a brave young leader for Napoli who never stops attacking defenses, and it is scary to think where he will be in three years when his decision-making around the penalty area improves.

2. Real Madrid LW Vinícius Júnior

The target of racism and violent tackles throughout the 2022/23 season, Vinícius Júnior has still been able to perform as one of the best wingers in the world despite this backdrop of hatred.

Vini scored the winning goal in last season’s Champions League Final and has been untouchable in European football’s marquee competition this season, too.

Impossible to stop with the ball at his feet, Vini carries Real Madrid’s attack with his fleet feet and unyielding passion to win for the club.

The Brazilian superstar has a jaw-dropping six goals and five assists in this year’s Champions League, averaging 4.2 dribbles completed per match against some of the biggest clubs in the world.

1. PSG LW Kylian Mbappé

Vinícius Júnior absolutely has a case for being the best in the world on the left wing, but that’s only because Kylian Mbappé does not get to play there and has to be a more unselfish striker to accommodate Lionel Messi and Neymar.

But when he does get to cut inside on his right foot in his favorite position, Mbappé shows why he is on his own planet.

His technical traits, athletic tools, and understanding of the game are truly unique.

Mbappé has accomplished so much on the world stage, as we saw at the last World Cup where he almost single-handedly willed the trophy to France. The PSG superstar had 28 goals and 17 assists last season and is already on 20 goals in 2022/23.