Ranking the best wingers of the last 10-15 years

[TrustInJanuzaj]

How anyone can have hazard above Salah is beyond me. Salah is a different class to him.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

He won a CL final for Real Madrid "on his own"

Him and Karius.

And he was a bit part player that entire CL run.

 

[Skills]

For me as a Bayern fan Robben and Ribery are same level. I think a lot here just have seen Robben more often because of the EPL. Ribery was more the playmaking type but could dribble through small spaces whereas Robben usually needed more space and he needed more help to shine.

Most people can't even remember Robben from his EPL times tbf. It's his performances in the Champions League and that amazing World Cup in 2014 that makes him stand out more (he really shouldve been POTT)

 

[Theonas]

Generally agree, but surely Hazard's very good 2018 WC counts for something too?

His performance vs Brazil was incredible.

I also think Neymar/Robben are a tier better than Bale.

Yeah fair enough but how many of these did he give? His transfer to Real was the perfect platform as I think it's difficult to give those kind of performances for a club like Chelsea who never really assumed the role of protagonist like Real, Barcelona or Bayern in the big games. Chelsea more often than not played like underdogs so he had that against him. It's also not his fault that his peak coincided with a weak PL where he could not showcase his best against elite teams locally. But unlike Courtois or Bale, he just did not show what I thought was his potential at that stage.

 

[OL29]

How anyone can have hazard above Salah is beyond me. Salah is a different class to him.

Aesthetics

 

[Reij]

In terms of raw ability.. Neymar easily.
Would put Neymar, Robben and Ribery in the same tier as to their overall career and special mentions to Bale and Salah to complete a top 5.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

1. Hazard
2. Robben
3. Neymar
4. Mane
5. Ribery
6. Salah
7. Bale
8. Sterling
9. Mahrez
10. Sane
11. Di Maria

I feel like Neymar perhaps possessed the physical and technical qualities to be the best of that group of players, but the excessively greedy and speculative nature of his game means that, for me, both Hazard and Robben achieved a higher level.

Hazard was relatively similar but more intelligent in his decision-making which ultimately made him a better player, for me.

Robben - once he matured at Bayern and looked to influence games through more than just picking the ball up and driving inside from the right in order to create an angle for a shot - developed great defensive discipline and penetrative off the ball running while maintaining his threat as a dribbler, which again for me made him a superior player overall.

Sane sticks out as being the weakest player on the list...

... but Di Maria is the poorest 'winger' - he belongs in a conversation about attacking midfielders with De Bruyne, Gerrard, Fabregas and Yaya Toure. Maybe he was still a better wide man than Sane...

Mane definitely better than Salah.

This makes me think you never watched Neymar if you think he's excessively greedy and speculative

 

[indianabones]

Some incredible names there. Who would defenders fear the most? I would say Neymar for skill and presence and then peak Bale for his pace.

Robben has got to be everyone's favourite though right? What he and RVP did to Spain that night was memorable.

 

[sherrinford]

This makes me think you never watched Neymar if you think he's excessively greedy and speculative

Seen plenty. Great player, but certainly not a logical one. Similar to Ronaldinho, the opposite of Messi (or indeed Hazard) - outstanding dribbler capable of spectacular moments of creativity, and always, always looking to provide that piece of magic. Even when it wasn't on.

 

[Stacks]

The problem with this is that Robben had so many injuries - after Robben left PSV he didn't have a single season where he played 30 league games and at Bayern he averaged just 20 league matches a season over 10 years. If he had been as fit as a lot of these other players, he would most likely be 2nd on this list behind Messi.

that Robben stat is insane

 

[giorno]

Neymar and Robben are at the top of the tree for me. After that, I find it tough to compare the merits of the playmaking/creative types like Ribery and Hazard with the more direct goal threats like Bale and Salah.

This

1-2 Neymar, Robben
- Bale, Ribery, Salah, Mane, Di Maria
- Hazard
- Sane, Mahrez

 

[Zetrio2002]

How anyone can have hazard above Salah is beyond me. Salah is a different class to him.

Hazard was really reliable when it counted. And when Chelsea failed, he also refused to turn up.

But back then, Hazard was really scoring lots of crucial goals. The goals Salah scored were more for bullying small clubs. Hazard had won more major trophies and Salah only 1 champ league and 1 league title while he choked on the rest.

 

[Righteous Steps]

Yeah fair enough but how many of these did he give? His transfer to Real was the perfect platform as I think it's difficult to give those kind of performances for a club like Chelsea who never really assumed the role of protagonist like Real, Barcelona or Bayern in the big games. Chelsea more often than not played like underdogs so he had that against him. It's also not his fault that his peak coincided with a weak PL where he could not showcase his best against elite teams locally. But unlike Courtois or Bale, he just did not show what I thought was his potential at that stage.

Injuries.

 

[Theonas]

Injuries.

Turning up overweight and reports of his seemingly nonchalant attitude couldn't have helped either to be fair.

 

[Righteous Steps]

Hazard was really reliable when it counted. And when Chelsea failed, he also refused to turn up.

But back then, Hazard was really scoring lots of crucial goals. The goals Salah scored were more for bullying small clubs. Hazard had won more major trophies and Salah only 1 champ league and 1 league title while he choked on the rest.

Salah and Aguero have the best goals and assist ratio against the big 6 in more than a decade.

 

[adexkola]

Hazard was really reliable when it counted. And when Chelsea failed, he also refused to turn up.

But back then, Hazard was really scoring lots of crucial goals. The goals Salah scored were more for bullying small clubs. Hazard had won more major trophies and Salah only 1 champ league and 1 league title while he choked on the rest.

What trophies did he "choke" on?

 

[Righteous Steps]

Turning up overweight and reports of his seemingly nonchalant attitude couldn't have helped either to be fair.

Yeah true didn't handle his body the best and by all accounts he wasn't the best in training, saying that i think prime Chelsea Hazard would have ripped up Madrid also, injuries and as you say bad conditioning didn't allow that to happen.

 

[Gehrman]

I always had Salah down as a inside forward when he played for Liverpool rather than a winger but i guess the definition can be broad.

 

[Righteous Steps]

Neymar
Robben
Ribery/Salah
Hazard
Bale
Mane
Di Maria
Mahrez
Sane

 

[BayernFan87]

All these mentions of Robben and Ribéry are making me a bit emotional.
They were truly special players and i miss them way more than Lewandowski.

My (maybe slightly biased) ranking would be:
1. Robben
2. Neymar
3. Ribéry
4. Salah
5. Bale
6. Hazard
7. Di Maria
8. Mane
9. Mahrez
10. Sane
11. Sterling

 

[BayernFan87]

Maybe it would also be a good idea to exclude penalties, because they can skew those numbers quite a bit. For example two of Hazard's many goals were penalties. Which would take his PG average down from a massive 0.2 to a still impressive 0.067.

savage

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Hazard had the second most man of the match awards in Europe after Messi over a 7 or 8 year period, people can’t say he wasn’t consistent, in fact he hit a consistency in performance that the likes of Bale failed to hit, who was more of a moments player.

 

[Mooza]

Robben is benefiting from the Ronaldo line of "if only he wasn't injured".

Baffling to see Sterling at the bottom of so many lists. He easily beats Mane for example.

I’m sorry what? Easily? I think Sterling has been criticised unfairly; he was an important part of Man City winning several league titles and was arguably world class for a few seasons but he doesn’t easily beat Mane.
Mane in the end was more fearsome. I doubt Liverpool would have been as successful if you had swapped them

 

[Righteous Steps]

Hazard had the second most man of the match awards in Europe after Messi over a 7 or 8 year period, people can’t say he wasn’t consistent, in fact he hit a consistency in performance that the likes of Bale failed to hit, who was more of a moments player.

You do have a point.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Hazard had the second most man of the match awards in Europe after Messi over a 7 or 8 year period, people can’t say he wasn’t consistent, in fact he hit a consistency in performance that the likes of Bale failed to hit, who was more of a moments player.

I'm very surprised at how low some of the rankings have him.
I definitely thought it'd be very debated between him and Robben/Ribery and that he'd at least be consistently ahead of Mane or Di Maria.

 

[Zetrio2002]

What trophies did he "choke" on?

18/19 premier league Liverpool had a 7 points lead in Jan.
Champ league against real where Sergio Ramos broke his arm (not really Salah's fault but someone like Zlatan would be strong enough to ward off such attack)
21/22 champ league

 

[giorno]

What i take from this thread is Di Maria is hilariously, outrageously underrated. He was(is) at least as good as Ribery(imo better), and was arguably better than Bale in the one season they played together. Ceetainly when Cristiano was out more often than not it was him, not Bale, who took center stage for us. Best player on the pitch in both finals we won that season, was the best player on the pitch in the world cup final until subbed out, scored the winner in the copa america final...

Seriously

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

18/19 premier league Liverpool had a 7 points lead in Jan.
Champ league against real where Sergio Ramos broke his arm (not really Salah's fault but someone like Zlatan would be strong enough to ward off such attack)
21/22 champ league

Can't you use the same argument against Robben then?
I mean he lost a WC final in 2010 and a CL final in 2012

 

[Righteous Steps]

What i take from this thread is Di Maria is hilariously, outrageously underrated. He was(is) at least as good as Ribery(imo better), and was arguably better than Bale in the one season they played together. Ceetainly when Cristiano was out more often than not it was him, not Bale, who took center stage for us. Best player on the pitch in both finals we won that season, was the best player on the pitch in the world cup final until subbed out, scored the winner in the copa america final...

Seriously

He was the man in the big moments as you say both finals, but he wasn't as consistent as a wide player for as long as Ribery was. He only had 4 years with Madrid also.

 

[Kanu]

These are the best I've seen. Although Neymar was definitely a winger at Barca, I see him more as a playmaker like Messi.

Bale would be a couple spots higher if we were talking peak only.

1 Robben
2 Hazard
3 Ribery
4 Salah
5 Di Maria
6 Bale
7 Mane

 

[Theonas]

18/19 premier league Liverpool had a 7 points lead in Jan.
Champ league against real where Sergio Ramos broke his arm (not really Salah's fault but someone like Zlatan would be strong enough to ward off such attack)
21/22 champ league

Zlatan did not even play for a team that would make it to those stages in the CL. The one season he did for Barcelona, he failed to show up in his only CL semi final ever. I can't remember a single big performance from him in a big European game. When do you think he showed this strength at such elite level?

 

[Theonas]

What i take from this thread is Di Maria is hilariously, outrageously underrated. He was(is) at least as good as Ribery(imo better), and was arguably better than Bale in the one season they played together. Ceetainly when Cristiano was out more often than not it was him, not Bale, who took center stage for us. Best player on the pitch in both finals we won that season, was the best player on the pitch in the world cup final until subbed out, scored the winner in the copa america final...

Seriously

All fair points but don't think he had a bit of the side character about him? I mean he never played with the pressure of being the main man carrying his team or with a big price tag or anything of the sort. It allowed his inconsistent performances to go relatively unnoticed only for him to pop up with big performances when all eyes were on Ronaldo or Messi. I just think that's a bit different than when you are the one showing up for your team week in week out like Robben, Ribéry or Salah were.

 

[FrankLorenzo]

1. Neymar
2. Robben
3. Bale

4. Ribery
5. Salah
6. Hazard
7. Mane
8. Di Maria

9. Mahrez
10. Sane
11. Sterling

 

[giorno]

He was the man in the big moments as you say both finals, but he wasn't as consistent as a wide player for as long as Ribery was. He only had 4 years with Madrid also.

I agree he wasn't as consistent as Ribery, but he also had a higher gear than Ribery. At his best, which often came in big games, he was nearly as good as Neymar - the clear best player of the bunch

 

[giorno]

All fair points but don't think he had a bit of the side character about him? I mean he never played with the pressure of being the main man carrying his team or with a big price tag or anything of the sort. It allowed his inconsistent performances to go relatively unnoticed only for him to pop up with big performances when all eyes were on Ronaldo or Messi. I just think that's a bit different than when you are the one showing up for your team week in week out like Robben, Ribéry or Salah were.

I think it was more circumstance than anything. He played with Cristiano, then Neymar and Mbappé. Messi with Argentina. He had to be the side character. Whenever those guys were missing and he had to step up and be the main man, he often delivered.

As i already said, the one season he and Bale shared in Madrid, the few times Cristiano was out - Copa final for example - it was who stepped up and played like the main man, not Bale