It is well documented that the Premier League is now far and away the world’s richest domestic league, and with it, the pull and power to attract the world’s best is strong.
That has been the case for much of the Premier League’s existence, as many of the game’s finest players have graced these shores at some point.
Narrowing it down to just the 10 best to play in England’s top flight over the past 33 years is an arduous task, but one that is often debated up and down the country, year in, year out.
Here, Sports Mole counts down the 10 greatest Premier League players of all time.
Ryan Giggs in action for Manchester United in 2009
Starting off the list is the Premier League’s most successful player, as Giggs’ 13 titles is unmatched by any other player, and is a feat that will probably never be broken, as he maintained world-class standards for over two decades in the Manchester United first team.
No player has played more games for Man United than Giggs (963), and 632 of them came in the Premier League, where the Welshman remains the all-time record assist holder with 162, which is 43 more than the next highest.
Giggs is also in the 100 club for goals, notching 114 across his PL career, and his achievements have been widely acknowledged, being awarded an OBE, and winning the BBC Sports Personality Award in 2009, the same year he won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.
Manchester City's Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring on August 17, 2014
While being the scorer of the Premier League’s most famous goal, Aguero’s career in the division goes way beyond that, as he was consistently among the league’s finest players for a decade.
That last-gasp winner against Queens Park Rangers capped off a dream debut season at Manchester City for Aguero in 2011-12, clinching the title with 24 goals that year, but the success kept on coming for many years in City blue for the Argentine striker.
Aguero won five titles in his time at City, scoring 184 PL goals, leaving him sixth in the all-time standings, with a Golden Boot sitting on his mantlepiece from 2014-15, and a statue of him celebrating that title-winning goal from 2012 outside the Etihad, leaving a legacy that will last for generations.
Luis Suarez in action for Liverpool in March 2014
Despite only spending three years in the Premier League with Liverpool, Suarez was simply unplayable, as he became the league’s best player before a high-profile move to Barcelona, just after falling narrowly short of dragging Liverpool to the title almost single-handedly.
In that 2013-14 campaign, Suarez equalled the then-record goal haul for a 38-game Premier League season, despite missing the first few weeks with suspension, notching 31 goals in 33 appearances as Liverpool finished second behind Man City.
That bought him a Premier League Player of the Season award and a European Golden Shoe, but also a £65m move to Barca, leaving the Premier League with 92 goal involvements in just 110 appearances.
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates scoring against Crystal Palace, on May 25, 2025
Liverpool needed a talismanic presence to step up after Suarez left, and three years later, the club spent £36m on a man who would go on to become one of the club’s greatest ever players - Mohamed Salah from Roma.
After failing to make the grade at Chelsea, Salah has been nurtured at Anfield, and in return, the Egyptian has delivered 186 Premier League goals and counting, Liverpool’s first two PL titles, four PL Golden Boots and two PL Player of the Season gongs, as well as a Puskas Award for good measure back in 2018.
Salah is the only active player in the current top 10 goalscorers, and he only needs two to move above Andy Cole, and 27 to go level with Harry Kane in second, and considering he netted 29 in a remarkable 2024-25 campaign, more records potentially await.
6: Roy Keane
Roy Keane in action for Manchester United on September 15, 2024
The Premier League has not always been about eye-catching attacking players, as Roy Keane’s legacy proves that gritty, box-to-box midfielders are equally important.
A regular fixture in the Man United midfield for over a decade, Keane won seven titles under Sir Alex Ferguson, making the PFA’s Team of the Century in 2007, and winning the PFA and FWA Player of the Season awards for the 1999-00 campaign.
A leader of men, the combative midfielder gained even further notoriety for his clashes with Patrick Vieira in the Man United-Arsenal rivalry in the late-90s and early-00s, and it was not just that aggressive style that brought success, as he provided an attacking threat too, with 62 goal involvements in his 366 Premier League appearances.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring for Manchester United in November 2007
Even though the majority of Ronaldo’s successes came at Real Madrid, he performed at such a level for Manchester United in the mid-to-late-2000s, Los Blancos felt the need to break the world-record transfer fee to bring him to the Bernabeu.
Forming a formidable partnership with Wayne Rooney at Man United, Ronaldo was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s side that won three consecutive titles between 2006-07 and 2008-09, winning the Ballon d’Or in 2008 and two PL Player of the Season awards, as well as a European Golden Shoe for the 2007-08 season.
Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford in 2021, scoring 18 goals in 30 appearances despite the fact United underperformed that season, and that took him into the Premier League’s illustrious 100 club.
Chelsea's Frank Lampard celebrates winning the Premier League title in 2006
Along with captain John Terry, no player encapsulates Chelsea quite as much as Lampard, who in 13 years of service, won every major honour there was to win, but the Premier League so often saw the very best of him.
Even before moving to Stamford Bridge, Lampard was a regular at West Ham United for five years, scoring the first 24 of his eventual tally of 177 Premier League goals, which ranks him seventh in the all-time list, despite being a midfielder.
Lampard also registered over 100 assists in his Premier League career, which brought three league titles, a Premier League Player of the Season award in 2004-05, and induction into the Hall of Fame, amassing over 600 appearances.
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne with the Premier League trophy on May 19, 2024
In years to come, the one player that will come to represent the dominant era under Pep Guardiola at Man City will surely be playmaking genius De Bruyne, who has just called time on his career at the Etihad after 10 illustrious years.
With six PL winners medals locked in his cabinet, De Bruyne’s individual haul is also hugely impressive, being named Premier League Player of the Season twice, in 2019-20 and 2021-22, and earning a place in the FIFPRO World XI five years in a row between 2020 and 2024.
Only Ryan Giggs has registered more assists in the Premier League than De Bruyne’s 119, but the Belgian managed that in just 288 matches, as he is widely regarded as the best playmaker ever to play on these shores.
2: Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney celebrates scoring for Manchester United on September 27, 2014
After bursting onto the scene as a 16-year-old at Everton, Rooney went on to enjoy 13 hugely successful years down the M62 at Man United, as he was arguably the only attacker who could hold a candle to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo during their peak years in the late-2000s and early-2010s.
Rooney played 67 games for Everton before leaving for £25m as an 18-year-old, and he would go on to win five Premier League titles at Old Trafford, as well as the PL Player of the Season award in 2009-10 season, despite not winning the league that year.
The Englishman is one of just three players to date to amass more than 200 Premier League goals, netting 208 in his 491 appearances, including one of the greatest ever, against rivals Man City in 2011, while also registering a very impressive 103 assists.
Arsenal's Thierry Henry and manager Arsene Wenger with the Premiership trophy in 2004
While the Premier League has been home to numerous world-class talents who will go down as the greatest players of all time, Arsenal legend Henry takes top spot in this list, following eight majestic years in North London that brought unprecedented levels of success to the club.
It was the Premier League where Arsenal had their finest days under Arsene Wenger, and Henry played a central role in the majority of them, winning two league titles with the Gunners, including an invincible title in 2003-04, becoming the first club in over a century to achieve that feat.
Henry won the European Golden Shoe in back-to-back seasons in 2003-04 and 2004-05 following his goalscoring exploits in the Premier League, where he has four Golden Boots on his mantlepiece, and two Player of the Season awards, while also coming second in the Ballon d’Or in 2003.
In just 258 appearances, Henry notched a whopping 175 goals, ranking him eighth overall, and 74 assists, many of which came during the infamous 2002-03 campaign when he registered 20 assists in one season, a record that has still never been beaten, on top of 24 goals in the same campaign.
Greatest footballers, teams and managers of all time
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