Briefly, Serie A was bucking the trend of being a league known for its top-notch defensive quality by having high-scoring games and open play, but that period has ended almost as quickly as it began.
Although there are a few attacking standouts in Serie A these days like Lautaro Martinez and Nico Paz, the best players in the league right now are defenders. The Italian top flight, pound for pound, has the best central defenders and goalkeepers, and these players make up the majority of the list of the best footballers in the league in the 2025/26 season.
Here are the top 25 players of the current campaign thus far, and while Inter Milan predictably dominate the rankings, the rest of the spread is pretty even among the other European contenders in Calcio.
25. Cremonese GK Emil Audero
Former Juventus prospect Emil Audero was one of the top goalkeepers in Serie A several years ago while keeping Sampdoria afloat, but he recently fell off the radar a bit after leaving Sampdoria to be a backup for Inter Milan, then struggling horrendously at Como before being effectively demoted with a trip to Serie B’s Palermo in the 2024/25 season.
Audero was decent enough on a pretty disappointing Palermo side in the second division, but he’s suddenly been a whole lot better in 2025/26 upon his Serie A return to Cremonese.
Right now, he is doing everything to keep one of Serie A’s least talented sides above the drop zone, registering the fifth-highest save percentage and somehow recording a clean sheet in nearly one in every three games despite the talent level around him.
24. Inter Milan ST Marcus Thuram
Although Marcus Thuram’s had more of an impact on the Inter Milan attack in past seasons, he has still been one of the top strikers in Serie A during the 2025/26 season.
The Frenchman has found the back of the net seven times for the league-leading Nerazurri while putting seven goals in the back of the net. He is also averaging 1.1 key passes and 1.4 fouls drawn per game to continue his reputation as one of the best all-around strikers in the game.
Inter signing the young Ange-Yoan Bonny has taken some of the shine and spotlight off the former Borussia Monchengladbach man, but there is no doubting that Thuram still has the quality to make things tick for Inter.
23. AC Milan CM Adrien Rabiot
While Adrien Rabiot’s time at Juventus was a mixed bag overall, he did genuinely start to settle into Serie A by the end of his run in Turin, and now that Max Allegri has brought the Frenchman with him to AC Milan, the veteran center midfielder is starting to play his best football in the 2025/26 season.
Rabiot has quietly been one of the biggest bright spots on a Rossoneri side that is smashing expectations, sitting second in the Serie A table. The 30-year-old has found the back of the net four times with four additional assists to his name, averaging 1.8 tackles per game and 1.6 fouls drawn per game.
There is a case to be made that Rabiot has been the best box-to-box midfielder in Italian football this season after teammate and footballing legend Luka Modric, and that’s a huge upgrade from how he first presented to Serie A as an overpaid free agent signing for Juventus nearly a decade ago.
22. Como CB Jacobo Ramon
Another young Real Madrid academy prospect with a great deal of promise who is already balling out for Como, Jacobo Ramon, by virtue of the center back position not being as glamorous and already having another of superstars in the position in Serie A, has been highly underrated and very much overshadowed by Spanish attacknig midfield counterpart Nico Paz.
But Ramon is also having a fabulous 2025/26 season as the star at the back for a Como defense that is better than people think. The 21-year-old is averaging more than three tackles and interceptions per game while playing solid one-on-one defense against Serie A forwards.
He’s also scored a couple of goals and been a massive asset to Cesc Fabregas’s build-up play as a passer. Both Ramon and left back Alex Valle have bright futures ahead of them in world football, and these two young Spanish defenders at Como are crushing it, with Ramon, in particular, shining brightly as an emerging leader and top center back.
21. Juventus CB Gleison Bremer
Gleison Bremer is a center back’s center back and something of a throwback to the days when Serie A and football in general was tougher and grittier, as the Brazilian international simply does not give an inch, nor does he ever back down from a duel.
Excellent aerially and feared in one-on-ones, Bremer is one of Serie A’s best athletes and tightest man-makers, and he can often be seen bleeding in the battles, throwing his body around as though he were a human battering ram.
And yet despite his rambunctious playing style, Bremer plays a clean game and rarely has to put in tackles, so assured is his marking. Bremer has been one of Serie A’s best dating back to his days with local rivals Torino, and he remains one of the premier center backs in the league amongst a loaded crop.
20. Napoli CM Scott McTominay
The MVP of Serie A last season, Scott McTominay nor Napoli have been quite as sterling in the 2025/26 season of Calcio, but the Scottish international has still been one of the best overall midfielders in the league.
The Napoli star is averaging more than two fouls drawn per game while providing more solid and intelligent covering defensive work at the back end of the midfield, and his nine goal contributions are an exquisite total from a non-attacking position.
19. Roma LM Wesley
New Roma signing Wesley has been one of the revelations of the season from the Brazilian top flight, offering clubs in European football another positive example of how the stars of the Brazilian Serie A can immediately translate to success in the top five leagues of Europe.
Wesley is making an impact in all phases of the game on both the right and left flanks as an all-around wing back for the Giallorossi. The Brazilian international has scored three goals while averaging two fouls drawn per game and more than a key pass per match, doing a little bit of everything to set the table and even finish chances off for Roma.
Defensively, Wesley has been an asset, too, using his athleticism and motor to good effect with two tackles per game, which ranks first on the team. At 22 years old, the sky is the limit for Wesley, who has had a near-perfect introduction to life in Serie A.
18. AC Milan RM Alexis Saelemaekers
26-year-old Belgian wide man Alexis Saelemakers has been one of the genuine surprises of the season in Serie A, and he’s probably one of the biggest reasons why AC Milan are good bets to qualify for Champions League football after their dismal 2024/25 campaign.
Saelemakers is effort personified, and he has made the right flank his home in a more two-way role that accentuates his ability to win possession and bomb up the pitch with speed and some of the most underrated catalogue of skills in the world.
He is averaging about three tackles and interceptions per game combined with 1.3 key passes per game and nearly four combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per match.
Even on a team with Champions League veterans Adrien Rabiot and Luka Modric, Saelemakers is the best ball winner and ball progressor on AC Milan, and he has fully shed his label of being nothing more than a Serie A meme.
17. AC Milan CM Luka Modric
At this point, we need to make a movement to have Luka Modric named a wonder of the world, because what this young man is doing at the tender age of 40 is beyond insane, and Xabi Alonso’s decision to go against literally everyone associated with Real Madrid and move on from Lukita this past summer is all the more reason for Madridistas to not feel one shred of remosre over his firing.
Anyone who doubts Modric is bound to look like an idiot. He has been Milan’s best player in the outfield this season with 1.7 key passes per game, 2.8 combined tackles and interceptions per match, and five goal contributions.
Modric is still one of the top midfielders in world football, and Milan may not be in the top four of the Serie A table without both Modric’s quality and the leadership advantage the Croatian legend gives to Max Allegri’s Rossoneri in 2025/26.
16. Atalanta GK Marco Carnesecchi
Atalanta star Marco Carnesecchi has really come into his own since moving to Bergamo, and he should already be considered the best goalkeeper in La Dea’s history.
Carnesecchi is one of the top six players in save percentage in a loaded Serie A that arguably has the best goalkeeping talent in European football right now. His reflex saves and distribution are among the best in Serie A, and, at this point, if you don’t recognize him as a top-class goalkeeper, you are the one with a problem.
15. Napoli CB Amir Rrahmani
With Alessandro Buongiorno quietly suffering a down year for Napoli after being one of the best defenders in the world in the previous couple of seasons, Amir Rrahmani has stepped into the spotlight as the best player on the Partenopei this season.
The 31-year-old center back keeps getting better and better with age, cutting down on his mistakes to further assert himself as one of the league’s best one-on-one defenders, allowing just 0.1 dribbles completed allowed per contest.
Rrahmani is the leader at the back for the Naples side and attempts by far the most passes on the team by at least 20 attempts per game. Everything starts with Rrahmani in the build-up play, and it is a shame that most fans around the world are not aware of how good he is and how important he is to Napoli.
14. Inter Milan CB Yan Bisseck
More and more teams around European football need to be strongly considering Yan Bisseck as a potential summer transfer swoop, because the German international is starting to inch closer to his true prime and is growing exponentially year over year as a now-indispensible part of the best defensive trio in European football.
Bisseck has been nearly as brilliant as his center back counterparts, who are two of the elite in Serie A. He is averaging just 0.2 dribbles completed allowed on the right hand side of the Inter Milan defense while providing crisp passing and genuinely progressive play going forward. Versatile, intelligent, and athletic, Bisseck can become a true household name once he becomes truly in the spotlight away from Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni.
13. Atalanta FW Charles De Ketelaere
It is funny looking back at Charles De Ketelaere’s start to life in Serie A at AC Milan when he was derided as a massive bust and immediately given up on despite playing completely out of position and being left for dead by bad coaching and issues in the team around him.
Gian Piero Gasperini and Atalanta immediately gave him a new lease on life and turned the left-footed playmaker into a true center forward, allowing him license to go for goal and be a versatile supporting striker who was more of a focal point of the attack in Bergamo than ever before.
The Belgian international’s basic box score numbers have been down this season with three goals and three assists, both totals behind Atalanta team leader Nikola Krstovic.
However, the underlying numbers are highly impressive and show that the Belgian is as good as ever. De Ketelaere has been one of Serie A’s best all-around attackers and table-setters with 2.1 key passes per game and 2.0 dribbles per game. This isn’t even CDK’s final form yet, but there is no question that when you watch the game, he is a class above most of the forwards in Serie A, especially with his positioning and understanding of the game.
12. Como GK Jean Butez
Most of the attention around Lake Como is going to Nico Paz, who is pretty much guaranteed to win the Serie A Player of the Season award honor this season with a handful of stars for overwhelming Scudetto favorites Inter Milan likely splitting votes.
But there needs to be praise given to out-of-nowhere breakout goalkeeper Jean Butez, who is second to only Mile Svilar in save percentage, as he is stopping 81.3 percent of the shots he faces.
Furthermore, Butez is locking down games with a clean sheet in more than half of his starts, which leads all goalkeepers. Butez is elevating a young Como defense around him and has been one of the best players in the league this season at 30 after previously being a secret star for Como in 2024/25 and in Antwerp, Belgium before that. Maybe people will start paying attention soon.
11. Inter Milan DM Hakan Calhanoglu
Now becoming an institution at Inter Milan, Hakan Calhanoglu has succeeded any previous, younger version of himself back when he was a playmaker extraordinaire for two big Bundesliga clubs and a quality attacking midfielder for AC Milan.
The No. 6 role suits Calhanoglu well, and he is an ideal regista with his high footballing IQ and leadership – both traits that are only increasing exponentially with age. And now, he is also becoming quite the shielding defender, reading the game out of possession nearly as well as he reads it in possession.
He’s also the best goal threat from midfield in Serie A with seven successful strikes already this season. Calhanoglu remains as brilliant as ever with his chance creation, and he and the elite center back trio are the perfect spine for the Nerazzurri.
10. Roma CB Gianluca Mancini
The fiery leader at the back end of the Roma defense, Gianluca Mancini has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, going from an arguable liability with his pig-headeness to being one of the most assertive and talented shutdown defenders in Serie A.
Mancini can successfully mix it up with any striker or forward in the Italian top flight, and his statistics this season have been incredible. The 29-year-old Italian international is averaging a robust 1.8 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game while allowing 0.4 dribbles completed per match.
Roma’s most important player alongside goalkeeper Mile Svilar, Mancini may not be able to go toe-to-toe with the Inter Milan center backs on the ball, but his controlled chaos brand of defending epitomizes the swagger of this Roma team, and he is the example his teammates look to.
9. Roma GK Mile Svilar
At 26 years old, Mile Svilar is the future of world football in goal, and more people need to be talking about how brilliant the Roma shot-stopper is years before he is going to touch is prime in goal.
Svilar has some of the best reflexes and reach in the league, performing world-class leaping saves that seem almost impossible. He is less prone to mistakes than most goalkeepers far more senior than he, and this is the season in which Svilar is truly fulfilling his potential as an elite player.
Roma have done so well to hold onto Svilar, and, now, he is leading Serie A with a save percentage of 83.5 while matching Lazio star Ivan Provedel’s 45.8 clean sheet percentage.
8. Inter Milan CB Francesco Acerbi
It is wild that for as many years of excellence as Francesco Acerbi has displayed in Serie A for a number of big clubs, the hero of the Champions League semifinals against Barcelona is rarely mentioned as one of the best center backs on the planet.
But Acerbi is, embodying that ideal paradoxical blend of coolness of the head and fiery passion that any central defender, especially one in Serie A, needs to succeed at the highest level.
Acerbi is just about flawless with his passing, completing about 95 percent of his attempts in the 2025/26 season, and you can scarcely count the number of times he is outsmarted off the dribble, even as he is 38 years old and clearly not as fast as most of the top attackers in the league.
This season, Acerbi is allowing a meager 0.1 dribbles completed per game while cleaning up messes to the tune of 5.2 clearances per game, and his actual reading and understanding of the play in front of him is second to none.
7. Lazio GK Ivan Provedel
It is a shame that most people around European football have never heard of Ivan Provedel, because barring an uncharacteristically mistake-filled 2024/25 season in the Italian capital, Provedel has been one of the world’s best keepers since stepping foot in the top flight for Spezia despite receiving no fanfare.
Even in Lazio, Provedel has been highly underrated, but the faithful Laziali are graciously behind their new leader at the back. Provedel plays with the heart and passion of a Lazio player, and his pure shot-stopping ability is at least as good as Maignan’s, if not better.
Over the last five years, Provedel has one of the finest catalogues of saves in the Italian top flight, and his current save percentage of 79.8 and clean sheet percentage of 45.8 are among the league’s best.
6. Inter Milan ST Lautaro Martinez
While Lautaro Martinez has frustratingly failed to reach that next step in consistency to reach true superstardom and challenge the likes of Harry Kane and Erling Haaland as the world’s best striker, there is no question that he is the best striker in Serie A, with only teammate Marcus Thuram even coming close.
Lautaro is leading the league with 14 goals, and he continues to show up well in his hold-up play and ability to create chances for others with four assists and 1.3 key passes and 1.6 fouls drawn per match.
5. Inter Milan LM Federico Dimarco
Like Alessandro Bastoni behind him and Hakan Calhanoglu to his right, Federico Dimarco is a truly unique footballer whose skill-set is impossible to find replicated elsewhere in world football.
Not quite a left back but more capable of winning possession and defending one-on-ones than any winger or wing back, for that matter, Dimarco is quietly having his best season to date and is putting up some truly spectacular numbers.
The 28-year-old Italian internatioanl has bagged 5 goals while serving up 11 assists as the most impressive attacking outlet in the side – even better than the striker duo of Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram – and he is averaging 2.8 key passes per game while winning 1.6 tackles per match compared to an average of 0.4 dribbles completed per contest surrendered. The man is a beast, and his ball-striking is second-to-none in terms of venom while his deliveries are the most gorgeous in Serie A from the flanks.
4. AC Milan GK Mike Maignan
Mike Maignan was not necessarily at his best last season, but, even then, his mediocre is better than most goalkeepers in European football, and he has rebounded again in 2025/26 to be the top goalkeeper in Serie A.
The Frenchman fully earned a new contract extension in a contract year, as he has saved over 81 percent of the shots he has faced with a clean sheet percentage above 40 despite playing for one of the worst defensive teams in the top end of the Serie A table.
As usual, the former league champion with Lille and Milan is papering over an awful lot of cracks in his side, showing great leadership and week-to-week consistency while making highlight-reel reflex saves. Maignan is one of the world’s best.
3. Inter Milan CB Alessandro Bastoni
The other big boys in European football, especially Liverpool, are starting to murmur about the possibility of stealing away Alessandro Bastoni in the summer 2026 transfer window, and you ahd better believe that if there were any opening to sign him and any willingness from the Italian star to move, those elite clubs would not hestiate to toss around huge wads of cash.
Bastoni is a true unicorn at the center back position with his elite one-on-one ability, intelligent reading of the game, active and aggressive winning of possesion up the pitch, and beautiful left foot.
The man is averaging 1.9 tackles per agme and a full key pass per match as a center back, outdoing many No. 6’s in Italian football despite playing further back as a central defender. Elite does not even begin to sum up how profoundly amazing Bastoni is, and this is the best version we have seen of him to date.
2. Juventus AM Kenan Yildiz
Juventus are nowhere near the Serie A title race yet again, but the fact that they are even in the Champions League discussion is largely down to the attacking exploits of Kenan Yildiz, who is shining despite a revolving door of a supporting cast around him.
The Bianconeri have been in shambles for years since the 2019/20 season – the last time Paulo Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo were healthy and functioning as a duo- but Yildiz is their first real superstar since then and is giving Juve reasons to have hope.
Yildiz has contributed 12 goals and averaged 2.1 key passes per game and 3.7 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn, showing both quality as a playmaker and goal-scorer while also beating his man consistently both interiorly as a 10 and on the outside as a winger.
He is the future of Juventus, but if the Bianconeri are too stupid to keep such a world-class talent in their ranks, any of the elite clubs in England would throw all kinds of money at him to be their new superstar of the future.
1. Como AM Nico Paz
It’s almost absurd to think that the best player in Serie A right now isn’t playing for Juventus, one of the big Milan clubs, or even one of the capital giants, but that’s exactly how brilliant Nico Paz has been in the 2025/26 season for upstarts Como, who are flirting with European football thanks to the Argentinian playmaker.
A gift from Real Madrid, Paz is due for a return to the Spanish capital next season, but until then, he will continue to be Cesc Fabregas’s muse on the pitch and a playmaker performing at such a high level that he seems destined to even displace Jude Bellingham, Franco Mastantuono, and the wonderful Arda Guler as the main No. 10 in Madrid next season.
Paz is the only legitimate Ballon d’Or contender in Serie A, and while he will surely fall short given Como’s lack of status, the honor could yet be his in the future if he keeps this up under the bright lights of Madrid.
Everything good about Como’s attack emanates from Paz, who has 14 goal contributions and a whopping 1.7 key passes and 3.4 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game while averaging an outrageous 3.2 combined tackles and interceptions per contest as an attacking midfielder. He is a gem.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.