Who are the best Barcelona players right now in 2025?
5. CB Inigo Martinez
I bounced back and forth between Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez, and I also think fellow central defenders Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde merit serious consideration here, especially since Kounde has become such a great right back in his own right despite being a center back at heart.
Cubarsi is even better on the ball and has more future potential as an 18-year-old phenom who is, in a way, Lamine Yamal’s defensive equivalent. But how could I leave Martinez off a list of the best Barcelona players RIGHT NOW, when, RIGHT NOW, Martinez is one of the best center backs on the planet.
That may seem like a crazy statement, but it’s only absurd to the uninformed. Martinez has been a top-level center back in LaLiga for years at both Real Sociedad and Athletic Club, and he’s now doing it for the best team in the league – and maybe even the best team in all of Europe.
Martinez barely gets beat, he reads the game almost flawlessly, he’s so strong and technical in the challenge, and he’s one of the best passers of the football you’ll find at the back.
And to think, the free agent signing started his Barcelona career as a bust and was supposed to leave the club this past summer. Kids, this is why you always bet on yourself, even when everyone else thinks you can’t do it.
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4. ST Robert Lewandowski
I know Robert Lewandowski has this reputation for being a one-trick pony poacher, and I am also in the club that believes one-trick pony poachers have historically been overrated.
But the thing about Lewandowsk is that 1) he is REALLY good at scoring goals and winning games with said goals and 2) he is more than just a one-trick pony and is a capable all-around striker who often sacrifices on the other stuff because he’s so much better at finishing than everybody else.
The numbers don’t lie. Lewandowski is Barcelona and LaLiga’s leading scorer with 25 goals this season. As much as some Barcelona fans have wanted the club to sacrifice his wages, he is one of the three best pure goal-scorers on this planet and is still the best anchoring forward on the team at being a box presence and drawing fouls. He opens up so much of the field for the wingers.
3. CM Pedri
I can buy Pedri as being second on this list, and there are very few footballers on this planet who can control a game or set up teammates in more dangerous positions than what Pedri does as a pure midfielder.
He’s the closest thing it gets in the modern game to what Xavi and Andres Iniesta were over a decade ago, and, well, it’s no coincidence that he’s playing for Barcelona.
Pedri has been at the top level for five years, and, at this point, the only thing that’s held him back is fitness. When not injured, Pedri is in a league of his own as a decision-maker and progressive passer in LaLiga, especially now that Toni Kroos is off the table.
2. LW Raphinha
Yet I ultimately give Raphinha the edge because even though he can be inconsistent, his highs are so much higher than everybody else. I don’t think it’s a stretch to call him a Ballon d’Or candidate, and the telling thing is that his closest competitor is his own teammate – the best teenage phenom we’ve seen since Lionel Messi himself.
Raphinha has broken out in a big way under Hansi Flick. I mean, he’s always been good, even when he was at Leeds, but, now, he’s legitimately world-class and a terror to any defense.
I still can’t get over how he tore Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to shreds this season, making the two other most historic organizations in world football look like total clown shows.
Raphinha is electrifying off the ball, so fluid at accelerating past defenders on it, and full of bags of quality with his end product. He is averaging 2.7 key passes per game this season with 21 goal contributions, and while he has cooled off lately, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s been a huge swing in this LaLiga title race.
1. RW Lamine Yamal
As brilliant as these four other players are, I don’t see how you can make a case that any of them are in the same stratosphere as Lamine Yamal, because the way he toys with defenders is simply God-given.
The boy blessed by Lionel Messi himself, Yamal is as brave as Vinicius Junior at taking on defenders while being, no joke, 10 times more effective. Comparing Vinicius to Yamal in talent is more laughable than comparing Cristiano Ronaldo to Messi, because at least with CR7, there was a case somewhere.
Yamal gets to his spot every time. Defenders cannot put him off, take him away from goal, put him outside the box, or get him to dribble into a bad double-team. He is always going to get to where he needs to go inside the box on his left foot for either a shooting opportunity or a chance to assist.
The reason why Yamal has “only” six goals in LaLiga this season is because he sacrifices so much to draw out defenders and create chances himself. Nobody has a better all-around record on the wings than his 11 assists and 4.6 dribbles completed per game.
Yamal has already arrived as one of the best players on this planet, and, again, I have a hard time making a definitive case that there is anyone better. And yet at the same time, I know that he’s merely scratching the surface. Barcelona have done it once more.
Joe Soriano covers West Ham for Green Street Hammers and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.