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Top 10 Premier League Players Ever Ranked
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- Top 10 Premier League Players Ever Ranked
The Premier League has been home to some of the game's greatest ever players, and now we have ranked the best 10 to ever grace the competition.
Since 1992, the Premier League has been the world's premier club competition, widely regarded as the most competitive and certainly the richest and most watched.
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Many players have created lasting legacies across 34 full seasons of the competition, with debates among fans and rivals raging on over which deserve to be held in higher regard.
That is why Football Insideris here to definitively rank the top 10 players to ever grace the Premier League.
We have based our list on not only the players' own personal achievements but also the trophies they helped their clubs win and their all-round impact.
There will be some familiar names, while some may spring a surprise, but let's kick things off with number 10 on our list...
10. Eric Cantona (Leeds United, Manchester United)
Cantona makes our list on sheer charisma and unpredictability alone. He took the Premier League by storm after arriving at Leeds in 1992, and is widely regarded as the first true superstar of the Premier League era. So big a catalyst was he in Man United's uprising under Sir Alex Ferguson, and such is his legacy, he transcends eras and his name is still one of the first sung by United fans on match day.
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The numbers themselves, especially to younger football fans who have grown up on goal-a-game feats from iconic forwards, were far from astounding. The French forward registered 70 goals and 56 assists in 156 Premier League appearances for Leeds and United. But he scored crucial goals, title-turning goals and did it all with a swagger that made him true box office. He helped United win their first four Premier League titles, earned separate PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards, was named in the PL Team of the Decade and as the PL Overseas Player of the Decade for 1992-2002.
He was also the first Premier League player to score a hat-trick and make the Ballon d'Or podium, coming third in 1993, and was a cultural icon as well as a footballing hero. His off-field antics and unmissable interviews made him an anti-establishment hero, and he retired in typically outrageous fashion at just 30 years old, with the decision announced during a press conference that he failed to attend.
9. Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
Yet another icon in the unstoppable Man United teams of the long Ferguson era, Giggs' light shone for far longer than Cantona's and he is even more iconic to the Premier League, after he featured across 22 consecutive editions of the division between 1992 and 2014.
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He still holds an armful of Premier League achievements records, notably the most titles won (13) by a single player, most assists (162), the only player to have played in 22 seasons, the only player to have scored in 21 seasons, and the first player to score 100 goals in the competition for Man United. He is also third on the all-time list of appearances behind James Milner and Gareth Barry.
Giggs wreaked havoc on the left flank as United dominated the top flight throughout the 1990s and 2000s when he was a speed machine with a left foot to die for. The left peg lost none of its lustre as he aged, but his position change as he moved inside and became a central midfield conductor in his mid to late 30s. He was, remarkably, six months past his 40th birthday when, still wearing the United jersey, he announced his retirement.
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Cristiano Ronaldo shone at Man United
Ronaldo's status among the greatest footballers of all time is without question. But he does not get higher on our list because his best years were in the white of Real Madrid rather than the red of United. He started off as right-winger with a dazzling array of tricks and stepovers before morphing into the goal machine that he has remained ever since in his last few seasons at Old Trafford. By the time even a club of United's lustre and power could not stop CR7 pushing to complete an £80million move to Spain, he was comfortably one of the world's best.
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The Portuguese icon is one of three active Premier League stars to win the Ballon d'Or, first winning the accolade in 2008, and he is the only man to have been awarded back-to-back PL Player of the Season awards. He also fired United to three consecutive titles from 2007 to 2009.
He returned for a second spell that began well before ending sadly with a monster huff and falling-out with the manager Erik ten Hag. His ultimate Premier League stats of 103 goals and 37 assists in 236 appearances is impressive without being jawdropping. But, at his best, there were few who have ever been better in English football.
7. Frank Lampard (West Ham, Chelsea, Manchester City)
Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend
The first non-Man United player on our list, he is remembered for his feats in blue rather than red. Widely regarded as Chelsea's greatest ever player, Lampard was a virtual ever-present in the club's greatest era when his consistency and availability were almost as remarkable as his superbly-timed runs from midfield and radar-like finishing. There were many Chelsea managers during the Roman Abramovich era, but they all agreed on one thing: they had to start Frank in central midfield.
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He helped Chelsea to three Premier League titles and remains the competition's all-time top-scoring midfielder with 177 strikes in 611 appearances. He also earned one FWA Footballer of the Year, PFA Fans Player of the Year and PL Player of the Season award each, was also named in the PFA Team of the Year on three separate occasions and the FIFA World XI once. His incredible set-piece ability and creativity also sees him stand at fourth on the all-time Premier League assist table (102). Not bad for a lad dubbed "Fat Frank" when he first emerged at West Ham, and who Harry Redknapp had to famously defend from fans who thought he was not good enough.
6. Kevin De Bruyne (Chelsea, Manchester City)
While Man City's achievements throughout the 2010s are under the spotlight, absolutely nothing can be taken away from the majestic manner in which De Bruyne ran the Premier League from his various attacking midfield stations following his arrival at the Etihad Stadium in 2015.
De Bruyne was unassuming away from the pitch, but on it he was the embodiment of Pep Guardiola's ball-hogging style that passed opponents into submission. In the sky blue shirt, he was a creative genius who made everyone around him play better. City have had many great players during the petro-dollar funded Abu Dhabi era that is now being questioned for its legitimacy, but not even David Silva, Erling Haaland, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany can match De Bruyne for all-round impact.
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The Belgian hero put a tough early-career stint at Chelsea behind him in Manchester, eventually racking up 72 goals and 121 assists, becoming the second-highest in league history for that stat, in 288 Premier League appearances. De Bruyne starred in six title triumphs, earned two PL Player of the Year and PFA Player of the Year awards each and reached third in the Ballon d'Or in 2022.
5. Mohamed Salah (Chelsea, Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah reigned supreme during his nine years at Liverpool.
The huge fanfare that met Salah's summer 2026 departure from Anfield was richly deserved. In nine years he established himself as a Liverpool icon who took up permanent residence on the right flank and refused to let go, even when his once-electric pace started to subside and those seemingly bulletproof hamstrings became less reliable than they were.
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His first season was astonishing, when those who remembered him for his Chelsea struggles could not quite believe that Liverpool had a ready-made superstar on their hands after he quietly rebuilt his career in Serie A. It was hard to judge what was more remarkable, the explosive pace, the dazzling runs or the surgically precise finishing. So good was Salah that even the brilliant Sadio Mane on the other flank could no longer command top billing.
But it could be said that even Jurgen Klopp, the manager on the sidelines for most of the Egyptian's 193 goals and 94 assists in 328 Premier League appearances, was not there for Salah's finest season and what was perhaps the best individual Premier League campaign by any player. The first Arne Slot season in 2024-25 saw Salah inspire Liverpool almost single-handedly to the Premier League title, which they had virtually sewn up by February, in a extended highlights reel of goals and assists when his relentless finishing was matched by his brilliant creativity. The assassin and the accomplice combined in one deadly package.
In total, Salah won two Premier League titles after being denied a few more by City when Liverpool had 95+ points, three PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards each, a joint-record four Golden Boots and two PL Player of the Season awards. He was included in the Team of the Year four times and won a joint-record seven Player of the Month awards.
4. Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United)
Shearer's Premier League record in front of goal is unmatched and, even two decades after retirement, he remains the greatest individual scorer in the history of the competition.
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His 260 goals in 441 appearances for two different clubs puts him 47 ahead of the next best, Harry Kane, and his fellow Englishman's magnificent late-career spell in Germany means he could keep top spot for quite some time. Not only is he Newcastle's greatest-ever player, Shearer also fired Blackburn to their unlikely 1995 triumph with 47 goal contributions in 42 appearances. He won two PFA Player of the Year awards, one FWA and PL Player of the Year award each, three Golden Boots and six separate nominations in the PFA Team of the Year.
Shearer was not just a Toon icon and a goal machine, he was also a complete footballer who could mix it with the Premier League hard men in a far less matey era and also provide finesse and technical excellence as well as the formidable power for which he is remembered. Has any Premier League player ever hit the ball harder more often?
3. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
A one-man whirlwind who could do everything. And do it all better than almost everyone else he played with and against. Gerrard was about five players in one, tough-tackling midfielder, playmaker with a 60-yard passing range to die for, supreme goalscorer and match-winning hero. He was also a brilliant right-back in his early Liverpool days and longstanding followers of the team will tell you they haven't seen a better full-back at Anfield than the young Gerrard who bombed up the flank like an unstoppable force before delivering Trent-precise balls into the box. The difference between those two passmeisters is that one knew how to defend.
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Denied the Premier League medal he craved by a cruel slip in 2014 against Chelsea - and a Man City side proven to have bent the rules - when he had morphed into a quarterback-style number six who ran the game from deep, Gerrard had by then established himself above even Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool's greatest-ever player. That alone would be enough to get him into this list, given the level of competition at one of England's two great clubs.
Sure, Lampard had the better goals and assists stats, although Gerrard's were pretty tasty - 120 goals and 92 assists - and he played in weaker teams for the most part, but outside of the Chelsea legend's west London constituency, most football fans know who would have been the first name on their team sheet. And it would have been the force of nature in red.
2. Wayne Rooney (Everton, Manchester United)
Wayne Rooney comes second in our list
Rooney comes in second on this list after an illustrious 16-year Premier League career that saw him smash countless club and league records at Man United. The England hero was part of five title-winning squads at Old Trafford as he became their all-time top scorer (253 goals), while he registered the fourth-most Premier League goals (208) and third-most assists (103) to become the only player to score at least 200 times and register 100 assists in the competition in his time at the Red Devils and boyhood club Everton. Rooney also won one PFA and FWA Player of the Year award each and had the most Premier League seasons (12) reaching double figures in goals.
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In his prime, he was a one man wrecking ball whose ferocious work rate was matched only by his technical excellence. In his teens and early 20s, Rooney was properly sharp, too. Blessed with a boxer's physique at the age of 16, when he memorably made his Everton entrance with a stunning winner against Arsenal, he was utterly unfazed by big occasions or the pressure that came with his mega-money move to United. He lapped it up and delivered season after season.
Strong-willed enough to take on Sir Alex Ferguson, he showed how far player power had come before being neatly put back in his place by the managerial 'Godfather', Rooney was smart enough to realise that staying put to become a United legend made more sense than swanning off to Man City. His status secure, he eventually returned to Everton when his legs, tired from a career that hit rare heights in his mid teens, had started to fail him. His inexhaustible appetite for winning never waned.
1. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
Thierry Henry is the best PL player ever
Many good judges are agreed: There has never been a finer sight in the Premier League era than peak Thierry Henry. At his majestic, clinical, trailblazing Arsenal best, he was truly unstoppable and, according to even the very best defenders of the era, virtually unplayable. He combined the pace of an Olympic sprinter with awe-inspiring artistry and a clinical edge that redefined how strikers were viewed in England. At his very best, Henry made goalscoring at the highest level look ridiculously easy.
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But it was far from nailed on that he would be a success when he joined Arsenal after struggling as a winger at Juventus. Arsene Wenger knew what he was buying, even if not everyone else did and once Henry settled in, he touched rare heights. Between 1999 and 2007 he registered 175 goals and 79 assists in 258 top-flight games for the club, helping them win two titles as he earned nine different individual league awards, a joint-record four Golden Boots, one World XI inclusion, a Ballon d'Or runner-up spot in 2003 and two European Golden Shoes.
It wasn't just the goals, it was how he scored them. It was how he made you feel watching him. The 2003-04 Arsenal Invincibles had club royalty in almost every position, but there was only one King. And that was the club's greatest-ever player and the deserved number one in our all-time list.
