Who is the best winger in Serie A right now? Let’s use expected goals, shot-creating actions, progressive carries, passes into the penalty area, and successful take-ons to build a list of the best wide players in the Italian top flight here in 2025.
All statistics are from FBRef.com and any player who can feasibly offer attacking contributions on the wing is eligible to be ranked.
The top 10 eligible players in each statistically category were assigned points ranging from 10 to 1 based on their ranking, with first place receiving the maximum of 10 points.
Then, shot-creating actions were tripled and xG doubled to weigh chance-creation and goal-scoring as the two most important categories, respectively. Tie-breakers were given to the player who appeared in the top 10 of more unique categories.
This list is solely based on 2024/25 season performances in Serie A.
10. Federico Dimarco, Inter Milan
Federico Dimarco is more of a wing back than an out-and-out winger, but he offers so much attacking output and ball progression down the left-hand side for Inter Milan that he has to qualify, edging out another great attacking left back, Lazio’s Nuno Tavares, for a spot on this list.
He has a golden left foot and is in the 98th percentile among all fullbacks in shot-creating actions, offering a great deal of industry to go with his legitimately world-class technical ability.
9. Mattia Zaccagni, Lazio
Long underappreciated, right-footed left winger Mattia Zaccagni is the unsung hero on a Lazio side that is, once again, squarely in the Champions League battle. The Italian international has scored 7 goals with 5 assists so far in the 2024/25 season and is on pace to beat the career highs he set two seasons ago when he scored 10 goals with 6 assists for the Biancocelesti.
8. Matteo Politano, Napoli
With Khvicha Kvaratskhelia now off this list and in Paris, more responsibility has fallen on Matteo Politano, who is one of the best athletes in Serie A when looking at his agility and explosion.
Politano can offer end product, too, as the 31-year-old Rome native had 15 total goal contributions in the 2023/24 season. Though those numbers have fallen a bit in 2024/25, Politano is one of the best progressors of the football in Serie A and is an underrated player for a Napoli side that is still in the league lead.
7. Christian Pulisic, AC Milan
Christian Pulisic has sagged a bit after a sensational start to the 2024/25 season in which he had six goal contributions through the first eight games of the Serie A campaign.
The American has already reached double-digit goals and assists for the fourth time in his career and the second out of two tries in a Milan kit. He’s taken so well to Serie A and is actually in the 86th percentile in goals scored among all wingers in world football.
6. Gabriel Strefezza, Como
There is no doubt that Gabriel Strefezza is one of the most underrated players in all of world football, and the experienced Brazilian deserves more credit on shortlists of the best left-footed right wingers in Europe right now.
Strefezza played a crucial role in getting Lecce to survive the drop in Serie A, and he’s repeating the trick with Como as former Real Madrid prospect Nico Paz’s right-hand man.
The 27-year-old is averaging 2.41 progressive carries and 3.93 progressive passes per 90 for Como and continues to work extremely hard defensively, rating in the 90th percentile among wingers in tackles.
5. Kenan Yildiz, Juventus
Even after losing Federico Chiesa, Juventus have another standout on the left flank, except Kenan Yildiz, a Turkish international, may be even more talented by the Italian, owing to his superior technical ability and end product.
Yildiz may only be 19 years old, but he is already Juve’s most consistent player and best playmaker, blowing the likes of Manuel Locatelli and Dusan Vlahovic out of the water in his ability to consistently influence the result of games.
Mostly starting on the left wing for Juve in 2024/25, Yildiz is averaging 4.31 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes and has scored four goals with two assists despite doing so much work defensively and in the build-up phases – work that a lot of other players on this list don’t have to do.
4. Paulo Dybala, Roma
Former Juventus gem Paulo Dybala is more of a playmaker in the attacking midfield than an outright winger, but there’s no doubt that when he starts on the right wing, he’s one of the best wingers in Serie A, too.
Written off by Juve during their contract negotiations, Dybala has become one of the best free agent signings in recent Serie A memory, aiding rivals Roma in a Europa League Final appearance while keeping them relevant in 2025 after multiple poor managerial decisions to fire Jose Mourinho and Daniele De Rossi.
La Joya scored 12 and 13 goals in his first two seasons with Serie A, and he’s already at six goals in 2024/25. Dybala is past the 80th percentile among his peers on the wings and in the attacking midfield in passing accuracy, progressive passes, and shot-creating actions.
3. Florian Thauvin, Udinese
If you want to talk about talented left-footed playmakers written for dead, look no further than former Marseille star Florian Thauvin, who has resurrected himself in Serie A at Udinese after spending 30 games in Liga MX.
Thauvin has already matched the five goals and three assists he notched for Udinese last season, but so much of what he’s doing goes beyond the basic numbers. The French veteran has put in 2.12 passes into the penalty area per game with 4.30 progressive carries per match, altering his game into more of a workhorse player than he was at Marseille.
2. Rafael Leao, AC Milan
Anyone who questions Rafael Leao’s status as the most talented winger in Serie A is only kidding themselves and falling for a media-driven narrative that he is lazy or overrated.
Leao is the only reason why Milan are worth watching, and he is, by far, their biggest hope in tough games. He always has been, going back to the 2021/22 season when Milan won the Scudetto with Leao as the league MVP and then even in 2022/23 when he catapulted Milan to the Champions League semifinal with an inspired performance against Napoli.
Leao is in the 92nd percentile in xG and in the 93rd in successful take-ons. The goal threat and one-on-one ability he offers is simply unmatched in Serie A, and if he were more consistent at delivering end product than his current tally of nine goal contributions this season, he’d be No. 1 by a long shot.
1. Ademola Lookman, Atalanta
Though he plays as a more of a forward or a striker in the 3-5-2 scheme utilized by Atalanta’s resident mad genius Gian Piero Gasperini, Ademola Lookman is undoubtedly a world-class winger on either side of the formation, especially when cutting inside onto his right foot.
Lookman is one of the biggest goal threats in Serie A and an all-around havoc-wreaker for the Goddesses, who find themselves well within reach of the Serie A title this season.
The Nigerian superstar is in his prime and greater than the 90th percentile among all forwards in virtually every major statistical category, including in the 99th in progressive carries and shot-creating actions. He is the new benchmark in Italian football.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.