We’re slowly getting used to a new era in which Lionel Messi and Neymar aren’t striking fear into poor European defences, but a new crop of talented wing wizards have emerged to take their place in the dribbling stakes.
Stars young and old from Manchester City, Real Madrid, Fulham, West Ham and Barcelona are among the most prolific dribblers of the 2024-25 campaign so far.
Here are the 10 players who have completed the most dribbles across Europe’s five major leagues – La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Premier League and Ligue 1 – in 2024-25. Where two players are tied on successful dribblers, we’ve put them in order of the superior per-minute ratio.
It’s a common criticism of Pep Guardiola that he coached all the dynamic individualism out of Jack Grealish to make him a system player, but he doesn’t appear too put out by Doku’s predilection for running straight at the opposition.
The Belgian winger is yet to fully nail down a regular place in Guardiola’s first-choice XI but he’s had a fair few opportunities of late. Doku actually averages a successful dribble more regularly than the player that tops this list, completing one every 21 minutes.
It wasn’t so long ago that Ekitike was being talked up as one of European football’s top prospects. Unfortunately, his move to PSG never quite worked out but he’s now kicking on admirably, away from the spotlight at Eintracht Frankfurt.
As well as being an adept dribbler, there’s end product too – he’s notched one goal and two assists for Eintracht, who are in the Bundesliga’s top four after winning three of four outings so far this season.
The Spanish winger is far from a household name, but we suspect you’ll be hearing more about Moro in the coming months and years.
He’s still just 21 years of age and has made a bright start to his first season of regular minutes in a major European league, having joined Real Valladolid permanently from Lazio after helping the club get promoted to La Liga whilst out on loan last season.
Now into his sixth season at Nantes, Nigeria international Simon is by no means a world-beater but he’s consistently made himself a headache for opposition full-backs in Ligue 1 and appears to be enjoying himself at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
It’s no surprise to see the current Ballon d’Or favourite feature in the upper echelons of this list.
Vinicius has faced some criticism back in Brazil for struggling to deliver his best on the international stage, but there’s certainly no problem when he takes to the pitch for his club.
READ NEXT: The 10 players with the most goals & assists in Europe in 2024-25: Three Barcelona stars feature…
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the top 20 dribblers across Europe’s five major leagues last season?
While there’ll always be question marks over Traore’s end product, he was always a frequent fixture of the dribbling charts during his Wolves pomp.
Now he’s back in amongst it, having been entrusted by Marco Silva to play a more prominent role at Fulham this season. He’s started all five of their Premier League outings to date, compared to just one start last season, and has already clocked up more minutes.
And he’s paying that faith back in droves, making himself more than a handful for the in-form Cottagers. Rejoice: Adama Traore is box office viewing once again.
We wouldn’t blame you if you’ve not heard of Sevilla’s Nigerian winger, who joined from CSKA Moscow in the summer.
But he’s swiftly proving himself one to watch for an otherwise ailing Sevilla side. His dribbling stats are off the charts – both his ratio (a successful dribble every 18.7 minutes) and his success rate (58.6%) are the best of any player in this top 10.
Real Madrid’s latest Galactico is judged to be one of the finest dribblers in world football in the latest edition of EA FC – and he’s backing up that faith with his real-life output in La Liga.
READ: The 10 best male dribblers on EA FC 25: Neymar, Mbappe, Messi…
Last season the West Ham attacker topped this list by a country mile, competing over 20 more dribbles than any player across Europe’s five major leagues.
Despite the Hammers early struggles under new boss Julen Lopetegui, we’re not at all surprised to see the Ghanaian near the top once more. But he might have his work cut out if he’s to retain his crown as Europe’s dribble king in 2024-25.
It was at some point during his starring role in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph that Yamal went from ‘outrageously gifted youngster’ to ‘legitimately one of the best forwards in Europe, regardless of age’.
The 17-year-old has picked up where he left off in the summer by stepping things up a gear for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, who have won all six of their La Liga outings to date, himself notching three goals and five assists already.
There’s still some rough edges to his game – as well as registering top for most successful dribbles, he’s also top for unsuccessful dribbles with 36 – but that just speaks to how often he’s getting on the ball and looking to make things happen.
It’s quite frankly ridiculous how good he is already.
