Who’s the best Premier League no.10 right now? Attacking midfielders ranked by 2024 form
Who are the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League right now?
A couple years ago Cesc Fabregas famously claimed the No.10 role is dying out in modern football. For many with fond memories of players like Dennis Bergkamp, this is a tragedy. Equally, though, some would counter that the role has simply changed and that there are still many examples in the Premier League today.
So who are the best around? You’re about to find out…
More Premier League player rankings:
- Who are the Premier League’s best wingers in 2023/24?
- Who are the Premier League’s best right-backs in 2023/24?
- Who are the best Premier League left-backs in 2023/24?
We have three midfield scores to rank the different profiles within the league (No.6 Score, No.8 Score and No.10). But here we’re focusing on No.10s and attacking midfielders who operate in, broadly speaking, central areas.
Only players who have played half the minutes available during 2024 have been considered (945+minutes), while midfielders that have joined Premier League sides this summer have also been included.
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5. Bruno Fernandes
- Club: Manchester United
- Squawka Score: 77%
Despite their recent struggles, Bruno Fernandes has been a bright spot for Manchester United, with the Portuguese maestro creating 114 chances in the Premier League this season, more than any other player. Indeed, he’s the seventh player on record (since 2003–04) to create 100+ in consecutive seasons in the competition and the first since Kevin De Bruyne in 2017–18.
Speaking of whom, Manchester City’s creator-in-chief De Bruyne was asked to rank his favourite creative midfielders to watch in England’s top division. Given a choice between Bruno Fernandes, James Maddison, and Martin Ødegaard, the Belgian put his neighbour in the top spot.
4. Phil Foden
- Club: Man City
- Squawka Score: 80%
After Kevin De Bruyne’s lengthy absence, Phil Foden found himself playing more centrally for Manchester City last season and thrived in his new role for the Citizens. The 22-year-old set a new personal best for both goals (19) and assists (8) in a single Premier League campaign as well as scoring more goals from outside the box than any other player in the competition (6).
He was named Premier League Player of the Season for his incredible performances throughout, becoming the first Englishman to win the award for Manchester City and the first Englishman for any side since Jamie Vardy in 2015/16.
3. Eberechi Eze
- Club: Crystal Palace
- Squawka Score: 83%
Eberechi Eze was directly involved in 15 Premier League goals last season, with 13 of them coming when he started centrally. There were rumours of him leaving Palace this summer, with the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City being linked, and it would have been a huge loss for Oliver Glasner if he had joined Michael Olise out the door. But the England international remained and will undoubtedly play a key role in Palace’s fortunes in 2024/25.
2. Kevin De Bruyne
- Club: Manchester City
- Squawka Score: 84%
When it’s all said and done, Kevin De Bruyne will be prominent in the pantheon of great Premier League midfielders. Even though it’s fair to say the Belgian playmaker is entering the latter stages of his career, he’s still potent, especially with Erling Haaland and him enjoying undeniable chemistry. Last season was a stop-start campaign for De Bruyne. That said, in 2024, he’s been indomitable with a league-high 69 chances created, 24 classified as ‘big’, and 11 assists.
1. Cole Palmer
- Club: Chelsea
- Squawka Score: 88%
Palmer, the undisputed Premier League young player of the 2023/24 season, was also in contention for the bigger prize, which eluded him. If he continues on this trajectory, it will not be long before he claims it. The former Manchester City academy graduate could not have enjoyed a better debut season for Chelsea, where he netted 22 goals and created a further 11 for his teammates—the most goal involvements of any player in the Premier League in 2024/25.
He was directly involved in more Premier League goals in the 2023/24 season than any other Chelsea player managed in their debut season, breaking Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s record. Furthermore, Palmer is the only Premier League player to register 10+ goals and assists in 2024 and be involved in the most goals (26 – 15 goals and 11 assists).
Squawka Score metrics and weighting
Here are the metrics used and weighting given to each metric to come up with the Squawka’s Number 10 score:
- 5: Goal Contribution, Open Play Expected Assists, Non-penalty Expected Goals
- 4: Percentage of Open-play Chances Created that are Big Chances, Percentage of Sequences Featured In That End In A Shot, Percentage of Sequences Featured In That End In The Final Third, Ground duel success
- 3: Possessions Won In Attacking Third, Number Of Sequences Ending In A Shot Featured In, Through-balls attempted, Touches in opp. box, Passes into box, Big chances created from open play, Non penalty shots on target
- 2: Take-Ons Completed, Fouls won, Open Play Chances Created, Non-penalty shots
- 1: Final third passes completed, Dispossessions
