Top ten Premier League players in World Cup qualifying features *the* Man Utd flop | OneFootball

World Cup qualification is very nearly over and with just a handful of games left to play before the play-offs in March, we bring you the top 10 Premier League players of a campaign which for some nations started way back in September 2023.

10) Declan Rice (Arsenal and England)

There’s a degree of crowbarring an England player in here, and with Premier League judas Harry Kane not available for selection, we’ve plumped for a man described by Lee Dixon on Sunday – with no hint of irony or any notable nod to Alan Partridge – as “the very best corner-kick taker on earth”.

Only one of Rice’s four assists actually came from a corner, but two more from crosses, and while our guess is Mr Dixon’s assertion is largely based on televised Premier League and Champions League games, he is indeed a very fine courier of a football.

9) Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt)

A brace against Djibouti in October served as quite the moment of positivity amid the club-level sh*t for Salah, as the Egypt captain secured their place at the World Cup while also becoming the top goalscorer in African qualifying history with 20 to his name.

His nine across the 2026 campaign was only bettered by Algeria’s Mohamed Amoura. Arne Slot may well take nine from him across the 38-game Premier League season on current form.

8) Cody Gakpo (Liverpool and Netherlands)

More Premier League goals and assists combined (5) than any Liverpool player this season and yet he’s still seen as a weak link by most, who would much rather have Luis Diaz back despite Gakpo going toe to toe with the Colombian for a starting spot last season. We suspect Gakpo would have Liverpool fans looking on just as wistfully had it been him who had made the move to Bayern Munich in the summer.

And he’s got four goals and four assists for the Netherlands having started every World Cup qualifier under Ronald Koeman, taking his career tally to 19 goals and 10 assists in 46 games for his country. For context, Bukayo Saka has 14 goals and nine assists in 48 games for England.

7) Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford and Denmark)

Those reading this north of the border will hope Damsgaard’s place on this list doesn’t act as some sort of harbinger of doom ahead of Tuesday night’s showdown at Hampden Park. Some advice to Steve Clarke, if we may: stop Damsgaard; stop Denmark.

He has three goals and an assist in five games, chiefly from the left wing but with the license to cut inside and combine with Christian Eriksen in a more central area, behind Rasmus Hojlund. He’s infuriatingly neat and tidy, and his increased influence for Brentford in the last year has built up a level of confidence that he’s now arguably showing to an even greater degree for his country.

6) Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea and Argentina)

He played and thrived for Argentina, and continued to be heralded as an undroppable star player, through thin times at Chelsea, and Fernandez remains a key cog in Lionel Scaloni’s team now that things are rather thicker for him at Stamford Bridge.

His and Argentina’s zenith came in a 4-1 win over Brazil in March, after which the local press marvelled at his “near to perfect” display. The 24-year-old “dominated” the game playing as the closest midfielder to Julian Alvarez, often with his back to goal, linking the play with the sort of time on the ball only afforded to the most technically gifted footballers.

He’s one reason Argentina are top of our World Cup power rankings.

5) Jeremy Doku (Manchester City and Belgium)

Doku had been grouped in a herd of not-quite-good-enough Manchester City forwards, and may even have been bringing up the rear behind Savinho, Oscar Bobb and Omar Marmoush before a season in which he’s shown a significant improvement that we’re as guilty as anyone in believing he would never make. We assumed he was destined to be little more than a kick-and-run winger forever.

He comes across as a very intelligent guy in interviews and something of a sponge for advice, previously hailing Thierry Henry for telling him how to improve his number of goals and assists rather than just insisting on the need for an increase. Both Manchester City and Belgium are reaping the rewards of Henry’s suggestion he cut out the “stutters” in his dribbling and avoid thinking he has to beat his man to deliver a cross.

Only Lamine Yamal (7.5) completed more dribbles per game than Doku (5.6), but the key to Doku’s place on this list and his status now as something at least approaching a complete winger is his 3.1 key passes per game, which is the 14th most in European qualifying.

4) Manuel Ugarte (Manchester United and Uruguay)

Just as none of us can believe Ugarte has ever shown quality worthy of a £53m move to Paris Saint-Germain and then a £44m move to Manchester United given the almost comically lacklustre displays we’ve seen of him in the Premier League, we imagine Uruguayan nationals are similarly perplexed as to how the guy they’re seeing cleaning up at the base of their midfield isn’t having a similarly dominant effect for the Red Devils.

No player has won more than Ugarte’s 33 tackles in South American qualifying, with Moises actual Caicedo behind him in second on 27 having played more minutes, and no player has made more than Ugarte’s 29 interceptions. Incredible.

It is very gratifying indeed to know that no matter the degree to which the floppiness of an Old Trafford flop appears to be down to the player and not the club, it is in fact always Manchester United that is the problem.

3) Martin Odegaard (Arsenal and Norway)

There’s something of the Wales 2016s about this Norway side in that they’ve got an outstanding goalscorer and playmaker of a similar standing and influence to Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey.

Like Wales, there is talent elsewhere in the side. They had Ashley Williams, Ben Davies and Joe Allen. Norway have Alexander Sorloth, Sander Berge and Kristoffer Ajer. They’re no mugs and would have been an outside bet to qualify anyway, but those questioning whether they can make any sort of mark at the tournament proper without Erling Haaland should have similar doubts over an Odegaard-less Norway.

His seven assists in just five games was the most of anyone in Europe and no-one created more than his five chances per game.

2) Mikel Merino (Arsenal and Spain)

He’s started all of Spain’s five games and played every minute of the first four, scoring six goals, including a hat-trick in the 6-0 away win against second-placed Turkey.

After two goals and an assist against Bulgaria in October, Spain boss Luis de la Fuente hailed Merino as “an exceptionally complete player with great adaptability”. That versatility is arguably costing him at Arsenal – for whom he’s started just four Premier League games – as he’s neither one thing nor the other, very good at everything but not the best at anything, but he’s made himself undroppable for Spain, and is now always shoehorned into the team, shining whether as a No.8 or No.10.

1) Erling Haaland (Manchester City and Norway)

He’s now scored an absurd 55 goals in 48 games for his country, stretching his lead as Norway’s all-time top goalscorer dramatically through qualifying, with Jorgen Juve second on 33.

Haaland would be 20th on the list through this World Cup campaign alone, with his 16 goals in eight games just one less than Morten Gamst Pederson managed in 82 appearances.

He scored twice as many goals as anyone else in European qualifying – Harry Kane, Marko Arnautovic and Memphis Depay all scored eight – and is the top scorer in qualifying across all continents, including those where teams play twice as many games.

“We’ve not had someone who’s been an outright superstar in the way that Erling is,” said Norwegian journalist Lars Sivertsen. “I think there’s already a case to be made that he’s our greatest ever player.”