It was a bold statement from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“He is undoubtedly the most underrated footballer on the planet,” Real Madrid’s right-back told British broadcaster TNT Sports. “When you play with him, you understand how much he gives to the team: he covers every blade of grass, he gives his all.”
Alexander-Arnold was talking about Federico Valverde, who had just scored a superb hat-trick in the first leg of his side’s Champions League round-of-16 tie against Manchester City at the Bernabeu.
“The best attribute you can have is that your team-mates can always count on you and he’s always there — he never lets us down,” Alexander-Arnold added. “Maybe people will start talking about it now, but he’s been in that top bracket of midfielders for many years.”
Is Alexander-Arnold right? Is Valverde the most underrated player in men’s football? And who else is crucial to their team but rarely receives the praise they deserve?
Here, our writers give their nominations. The list is far from definitive, so please leave your suggestions in the comments.
Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)
Valverde has played 364 times for Real Madrid, won 71 caps for Uruguay, and has claimed a host of trophies, including two Champions League and three La Liga titles.
But the 27-year-old has never received the same plaudits as other Madrid midfielders, including former team-mates Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. That could be because Valverde, nicknamed ‘little bird’ as he rose to prominence, has at times lacked the self-confidence and self-promotion seen from Madrid’s high-profile galacticos.
Last week’s hat-trick against City showcased everything Valverde can do — particularly his athleticism, but also his technical excellence, which has not always been as well recognised.
That treble could now push him forward to the status he truly deserves. His confidence certainly looked high as he curled in another fine strike in Saturday’s league win against Elche.
Dermot Corrigan
Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
Look, I’m not going to argue that he’s one of the best defenders in the world. Maguire is, however, a much better player than many (most?) people give him credit for.
He is good at the unglamorous bits of his job: he’s strong in the tackle, good in the air and constantly talks. He pops up with big goals. He is also fine in possession — not stylish, sure, but calm and adept at carrying the ball forward.
Maguire gets overlooked — and often ridiculed — because of physical traits beyond his control. He has a big head. He isn’t very quick. He’s a bit cumbersome. Fair enough. But the 33-year-old has been a reliable, sometimes very good Premier League player for a decade now. He deserves much more praise than he gets.
Jack Lang
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Picking a three-time Ballon d’Or nominee who has six Premier League winners’ medals for Manchester City and 107 caps for Portugal might seem to be against the spirit of this exercise.
But Bernardo is underrated. His contribution to City’s success under Pep Guardiola has never been as strikingly obvious as those from Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne or David Silva — or perhaps even Ruben Dias, Rodri or Phil Foden, who have all won major individual awards in recent seasons — but it is enormous.
Does Bernardo Silva get the praise he deserves? (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
He is such an intelligent, hard-working and immensely talented player, one of the few who has retained Guardiola’s trust week after week, season after season. He is not as dazzlingly effective at 31 as he was a couple of years ago, but his range of abilities will be hard to replace when the time comes.
Oliver Kay
Joao Neves (Paris Saint-Germain)
It is not often you hear Neves being discussed among the greatest midfielders in the world — or not often enough, anyway.
He is the player who links up everything in the Paris Saint-Germain side who won four trophies last season and blitzed Inter 5-0 in the Champions League final. Ousmane Dembele took most of the individual accolades, including the Ballon d’Or, and it was easy to understand why after his 35-goal haul for Luis Enrique’s side.
Yet it almost always starts with Neves in midfield, moving the ball on, winning tackles, always playing the right pass. Oh, and he also scored this hat-trick during PSG’s 6-3 win against Toulouse in August:
O hat-trick mais lindo da história do futebol 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/fEeSCzk0lz
— Ligue 1 Português (@Ligue1_POR) August 31, 2025
Daniel Taylor
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
You’ve probably heard of him — but seriously, do we put enough respect on this guy’s name and achievements?
Kane could have more than five more years in the game (he’s 32) and has already scored more career goals than Alan Shearer (who scored 410) and Jimmy Greaves (466), having recently reached the 500 mark for club and country.
Shearer and Greaves are considered among the archetypal greatest centre-forwards in the English game, but that accolade now solely belongs to Kane, whose goalscoring achievements in England and Germany are remarkable.
If he were a ‘superstar’ and had a brand, the former Tottenham Hotspur striker would be better appreciated, but his low-key nature sees him played down and, yes, underrated.
Tim Spiers
Stanislav Lobotka (Napoli)
I guess this depends on what we mean by underrated. Some players are foolishly not rated. Many observers seemed to diminish Domenico Berardi because they could not understand why he started the delayed 2020 European Championship in Federico Chiesa’s place. Presumably, they hadn’t seen Berardi score nearly 100 goals in Serie A.
Other players are viewed with perplexing scepticism. Take Manchester City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and the odd foot fetish his critics displayed in their evaluations of him, despite his talent for keeping the ball out of the net.
Looking at this list, there are Champions League winners and former top scorers who have cost up to €70million (£60m; $80m). Evidently, their clubs and the market rated them. The best kind of underrated player is the one people sleep on, and they’re usually deep-lying midfielders. A couple of years ago, I would have said Hakan Calhanoglu, but even he was hyped as a teenager in Hamburg.
That’s why I’m going for Lobotka. The 31-year-old ticks all the boxes. A double scudetto winner with Napoli from a small football nation in Slovakia. He really should be a Barcelona player.
James Horncastle
Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
No doubt plenty of people out there rate Olise as highly as they should, but I wonder if any of us are paying enough attention to the France winger’s numbers at Bayern Munich.
After the brief hiatus that allowed Bayer Leverkusen to win the Bundesliga title, Bayern’s traditional dominance is gripping Germany again and in that climate, their attacking players are liable to post exceptionally good stats — but Olise’s data is off the charts.
He has 27 assists this season, the same number of goals St. Pauli’s entire squad have scored. Add on the 15 times he has added his name to the scoresheet and we have 42 goal contributions in 38 appearances — equivalent to the level of output you get from his Bayern team-mate and fellow member of this list, Kane.
Michael Olise has sparkled for Bayern Munich (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Pound for pound, at a transfer fee of about £60million ($80m) from Crystal Palace, there probably isn’t a more dependable player in Europe. And though he’s widely admired, Olise should probably be spoken about in more reverential terms. The France international has definite star potential at this summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Phil Hay
Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich)
It’s not so much that people don’t rate Pavlovic or recognise that he’s a good player, more that they are yet to appreciate how good he is and how important for Bayern Munich and Germany he could prove to be.
People in Munich think the 21-year-old is the successor to Kroos. It’s heady praise, but not undue. Pavlovic is unflappable in possession, sees the game around him with such clarity already, and has every chance of becoming a global star. Next time you have the chance to watch him, notice how well he passes forward and how he always seems to find a gap.
Pavlovic isn’t just popular because he’s homegrown in a city where that matters. More broadly, he’s a star in the making.
Seb Stafford-Bloor
Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo)
If loyalty is an underrated quality in the modern game, then Berardi should be on this list for that alone. He is an Italy international who has played more than 400 games across 14 consecutive seasons for Sassuolo, even sticking with them as they dropped into the second tier last term.
Berardi’s longevity should be admired. He has been a constant thorn in the side of Serie A’s biggest teams and a tireless talisman for an often mid-table club. For context, his rate of 0.72 goals or assists per 90 minutes across all competitions — over 14 years, remember — represents a similar level of output to Vinicius Junior’s career at Real Madrid (0.71).
Now 31, entering the final stages of an injury-hit career, Berardi is not the explosive, goal-out-of-nothing winger he once was. But rest assured, he will keep popping up with big moments for Sassuolo until he hangs up his boots.
Thom Harris
Daley Blind (Girona)
It is a minor miracle that Blind can even play football. In December 2019, while playing for Ajax, he suffered a cardiac arrest during a Champions League match against Valencia. During his recovery, he was diagnosed with the heart condition myocarditis and fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
Yet Blind recovered from that and enjoyed more fruitful years at Ajax. At 36, he plies his trade in La Liga with Girona and continues to display an unflashy technical security. He is comfortable at left-back and centre-back, and has previously played in defensive midfield.
The Netherlands and Ajax have both struggled to progress the ball from deep since parting ways with Blind, his country’s fifth-most-capped player (108 senior appearances). Premier League fans will argue he was underwhelming during his four years at Manchester United. But Blind is just one of several players who ended up at the ‘wrong’ Manchester club in the 21st century.
Carl Anka
Malick Thiaw (Newcastle United)
The workhorse of Europe’s busiest team, Thiaw has been a defensive stalwart during an exhausting season that has stretched and depleted Eddie Howe’s squad.
Since starting his first match for Newcastle on September 21, the centre-back has been ever-present, barring the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Qarabag, for which he was suspended.
In other words, he has started 43 of Newcastle’s last 44 games in all competitions, an astonishing display of availability and reliability. There has been the odd mistake as fatigue has crept in, but amid the angst and difficulties of Newcastle’s other, expensive summer signings, the 24-year-old Germany international has settled quickly.
Quiet, unassuming and top-notch.
George Caulkin
The tireless Malick Thiaw (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford)
There’s never much of a fuss around Damsgaard, which is probably just the way he likes it (he was nervous about doing a speech when he won Brentford’s supporters’ and players’ player of the year awards last season).
The Brentford midfielder registered 10 assists in the Premier League in the 2024-25 campaign — only Mohamed Salah, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga had more. You may not have realised that, just like it’s easy to forget that it was Damsgaard’s brilliant 25-yard free-kick that opened the scoring against England in the Euro semi-final at Wembley five years ago.
If you like technicians on a football pitch, Damsgaard, who grew up idolising Barcelona and Spain legend Andres Iniesta, will be right up your street. “He oozes class,” Brentford head coach Keith Andrews told reporters after Damsgaard scored twice and set up another in the 4-3 victory over Burnley last month.
Stuart James
Eric Garcia (Barcelona)
You might remember Garcia for his unconvincing early days at Guardiola’s City, or some unfortunate performances with a struggling Barcelona side from 2021-2023, which led to their coach, Xavi, losing trust in him and Garcia joining Girona on loan.
But Garcia returned to Barca last season and has evolved into a whole new player. The 25-year-old is the most trusted lieutenant in Hansi Flick’s side — no Barca player has played more than his 3,208 minutes this season.
A centre-back who has also featured at right-back, left-back and holding midfield, his multi-functional skill set qualifies him for this list. When Garcia rejoined Barca in the summer of 2020, Guardiola said he would become the club’s captain for the next decade. Now, he is finally delivering on that potential.
Pol Ballus
Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray)
A celebrated striker? Yes, but Osimhen is too good to be playing in the Turkish Super Lig for Galatasaray.
Since breaking through with Belgian side Royal Charleroi, the Nigeria international has scored goals. He helped Napoli win their first scudetto in 33 years. He has 35 goals in 52 games for his country, two shy of Rashidi Yekini’s record.
He is technically adept, effective on the counter-attack and a deadly finisher — in the air or on the ground. There are valid concerns about the 27-year-old’s attitude and he is often left out of the conversation of Europe’s best centre-forwards because of the league he plays in.
But among world-class forwards, he is not far behind the elite of Haaland, Kane and Kylian Mbappe, and deserves to be recognised.
Nnamdi Onyeagwara
Victor Osimhen: too good to be playing in Turkey? (Isabella Bonotto/AFP via Getty Images)
Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Yes, he made a (rare) costly error in last weekend’s defeat at Arsenal, but the facts still speak for themselves.
Pickford was statistically the best shot-stopper in the Premier League last season, based on goals prevented. The 32-year-old has kept a record 10 successive clean sheets for England, and was a key part of the teams that reached the 2018 World Cup semi-final and the Euro final five years ago.
His jaw-dropping stop from Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali last month, meanwhile, will almost certainly win the Premier League’s Save of the Season award. Pickford turns up in the big moments.
“Whenever we have discussions about the best goalkeepers, he doesn’t crop up,” Gary Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast after that Tonali save. “I think he should.”
Patrick Boyland
Unbelievable reactions from Jordan Pickford 🤯⚡️
🔵 @Everton pic.twitter.com/n1WZz5JGHP
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 28, 2026
Jurrien Timber (Arsenal)
This Arsenal team are pragmatic, physical and incredibly difficult to beat. Few players embody those qualities better than Timber.
When the Dutchman arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2023, it raised a few eyebrows, since Arsenal ostensibly already had a top right-back in Ben White. It’s a good thing they did: Timber tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) partway through his Premier League debut, and effectively spent a season on the sidelines.
Since then, however, there has been no stopping him — or rather, he has stopped everyone in his path. Timber has built a reputation as one of the best one-vs-one defenders in the league. He allies that with tactical intelligence, a surprisingly strong aerial ability and an unflappable character.
His recent form has dipped a little as the strain of competing on four fronts begins to take its toll, but Timber remains one of Arteta’s most trusted players.
James McNicholas
Tyrick Mitchell (Crystal Palace)
Ultra-consistent, athletic and tactically astute, Mitchell has locked down the left-back slot at Palace since breaking through. He has added new facets to his game in recent years and was a key part of the team that won two trophies last summer.
The 26-year-old could eventually break Palace’s Premier League appearances record, too (held by Joel Ward on 306; Mitchell is on 199). That he only has two England caps when a host of midfielders and out-of-form players at big clubs are preferred at left-back is a shame — he should certainly be in the conversation for the World Cup squad.
Max Mathews
Tyrick Mitchell is appreciated at Crystal Palace but perhaps not by the wider football world (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Abdukodir Khusanov (Manchester City)
He is probably not the most underrated player in the world, but his disastrous debut against Chelsea last season — when he gave a goal away and looked completely at sea in the first 20 minutes — means a lot of people have it in their heads that the Uzbekistan centre-back is a no-hoper.
Even quite soon after that, Khusanov was putting things right, showing the reasons that City bought him — and this season he has been even better. He looks like a real gem at just 22, with only two seasons in top European football behind him before he signed for City.
His pace is incredible, as is his ability to read defensive situations and attack the ball aggressively. Sometimes he is too aggressive, but those are rough edges that can be smoothed off. He is good on the ball as well. Khusanov is a real top prospect.
Sam Lee