Ranking the 12 Most Creative Players in the Premier League Right Now
In this slideshow, we take a look at Santi Cazorla, Cesc Fabregas and 12 of the Premier League’s most creative players—based on the form they have shown throughout the 2014/15 season.
There are so many facets that contribute to the game of a truly creative player, such as vision, passing ability, chance creation and number of assists, not to mention all-round technique, flair and a willingness to take risks and show off dribbling skills.
The following names are presented from 12-1 and are ranked according to those who have consistently displayed the most creativity and created the most chances this term, with the statistics coming courtesy of Squawka.
12. Dusan Tadic, Southampton
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A summer acquisition from FC Twente, Dusan Tadic has been the creative heartbeat of Ronald Koeman's Southampton side for large parts of the 2014/15 season.
In the Saints' starting XI on 24 occasions this term, the Serbia international has four goals and seven assists to his name. With 61 key passes made, he has created 68 chances for his side.
Described as the Eredivisie's "best player" by Benefoot.net's Michiel Jongsma before departing for the Premier League, the 26-year-old was an instant hit at St. Mary's, where his midfield influence played a huge role in Southampton's early-season form. This included a hat-trick of assists and a goal in an 8-0 demolition of Sunderland in October.
Good with both feet, unpredictable, blessed with great vision and adaptable to a number of positions—Tadic's flair and versatility has seen him deployed on the left wing, right wing and in attacking midfield at his new club, where his arrival ensured that no one was left ruing the loss of Adam Lallana to Liverpool.
Tadic has played a lesser role for Southampton in the second half of the campaign and looks likely to miss out on the last three fixtures due to injury. However, his impact in the Premier League cannot be underestimated—Tadic's creativity has played a monumental part in his side's surprising accomplishments this season.
11. Juan Mata, Manchester United
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If only we saw more of Juan Mata, the Spanish midfielder would undoubtedly be placed much higher in this slideshow.
Discarded by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and not favoured by David Moyes during the Scot's tenure at Old Trafford, the Manchester United man has received criminally little game time in recent seasons.
Under Louis van Gaal, Mata has gradually found himself given more time to express his creative talents in the Premier League. This term, he has scored eight and assisted four, creating 43 chances while playing in an attacking midfield role and on the right wing.
Yet, despite warming the bench on just five occasions this season, it seems there is still a long way to go before he is considered as one of the first names on the teamsheet.
An intelligent and likable player, Mata has a great reading of the game, has a passing accuracy of 90 percent in 2014/15 and displays true, jaw-dropping creative skill when called upon.
It's these talents that leave many scratching their heads and asking why there doesn't seem to be a team out there willing to build themselves around Juan Mata.
10. Christian Eriksen, Tottenham Hotspur
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While the spotlight and cameras have been trained on Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen's second season at White Hart Lane has been a resounding success, if one with little fanfare.
With two, the Dane has not amassed as many assists as the other players that feature in this slideshow, yet he has still racked up 76 chances in the Premier League in 2014/15. Eriksen's goals have been crucial for Spurs—the 23-year-old scoring 10 in 25 appearances, most of them late winners.
A graduate of the Ajax youth academy, Eriksen is unsurprisingly an exceptional passer of the ball and—despite his low number of assists this term—looks like he is on his way to becoming one of the best playmakers in the English top flight.
His ghosting runs, ability to play a number of midfield roles and his threat from direct free-kicks certainly make him one of, if not the most important player in Mauricio Pochettino's squad.
9. Raheem Sterling, Liverpool
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Hidden amid all the transfer talk that has surrounded Raheem Sterling in recent months is a player whose pace, dribbling skills and creativity make him one of the most exciting young names around.
Liverpool have not attained the same dizzying heights as last season, but Sterling has still made a sizeable impact at Anfield, where he has notched seven goals and seven assists in 2014/15. He is currently his side's joint-top goalscorer alongside Steven Gerrard and has created 70 chances this term.
As Liverpool's formations have shifted over the last 12 months, Sterling has been fielded in a variety of positions by Brendan Rodgers, excelling and displaying the most creativity, dynamism and consistency when handed the No. 10 role.
Toward the tail-end of last season, the Guardian's Barney Ronay wrote: "Right now he looks, as he always does in possession, intriguingly poised, a player with obvious gifts of speed and lateral movement, who has been given the chance to show his precocious footballing intelligence in a position that has been something close to a blank page in English football's recent history."
8. Stewart Downing, West Ham United
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Don't let West Ham United's recent form throw you off—Stewart Downing has had an excellent season.
Playing alternate roles on both the left wing and in attacking midfield, the 30-year-old has discovered a new lease of life for Sam Allardyce's team in 2014/15, where he has scored five and assisted eight.
In total, he has created 83 chances for his side and can boast the same assist rate as Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez, Liverpool's Jordan Henderson, Manchester City's Jesus Navas and Chelsea's Oscar and Eden Hazard.
It's true that Downing's best play occurred in the first half of the season, when he was playing predominantly as a No. 10 behind Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho. Injuries to key squad members has seen him regularly fielded on the left in 2015, where he has struggled to recapture the bright form that came as somewhat of a surprise when the campaign kicked off.
However, Downing's numbers are worthy of praise, and he deserves his place in these rankings. Had he remained in the attacking midfield role that best displays his creative skills, those numbers would be even higher.
With three games left to go, will we see more from the Englishman?
7. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea City
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Signed by Swansea City last summer, this season is not Gylfi Sigurdsson's first time playing at the Liberty Stadium—the Iceland international having been on loan with the club in 2012.
However, this is the first Premier League season in which the Iceland international has established himself as one of the strongest creative players in the division.
Second only to Cesc Fabregas in the 2014/15 assists charts, Sigurdsson has shone under manager Garry Monk, who has fielded the 25-year-old in the position in which he performs best—as a No. 10. It's a move that has rejuvenated the player, who was often forced onto the wing or onto the sidelines altogether when at Tottenham Hotspur.
In 30 league games, the Reykjavik-born player has six goals and 10 assists and has created 71 chances in total.
6. David Silva, Manchester City
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In his 29 Premier League outings for Manchester City this season, David Silva has netted 11 goals and weighed in with five assists.
In a campaign in which Manuel Pellegrini's side have often struggled for consistency and have missed the presence of the often-injured Sergio Aguero, Silva has stood out as one of City's best performers. A bright spark in a side whose dull approach has seen them fail to show any determination to retain the title they won last year.
With 77 key passes, the fleet-footed Silva has created 82 chances in total for his side, with three games to play.
A truly creative individual whose lack of ego often sees him looking to make a pass to others, rather than going for goal himself, there are few players in the division right now as adept at spotting space, making darting runs and providing the killer pass. Silva's positional sense, too, is in a class of its own.
5. Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal,
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Alexis Sanchez has slipped seamlessly into life in the Premier League and can easily lay claim to being one of Arsenal's standout players and one of the league's best attacking talents from the 2014/15 season.
Bursting with energy, able to play on the left or right wing or as a centre-forward, he is a dribbler of the highest quality and an effective goalscorer to boot. The Chilean has 16 goals and eight assists in 31 appearances this term, following his summer arrival from Barcelona. In total, Sanchez has created 70 chances for the Gunners.
It is Sanchez's consistency throughout the season that sees him place in the top half of this slideshow.
As written by The Telegraph's Jeremy Wilson in January: "In his first 20 Premier League games, Sanchez has scored or created more than half (19) of Arsenal's goals. To put that into some perspective, in the entire 23-season history of the Premier League, no new arrival in England has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than Sanchez in their first 20 games."
4. Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool
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A shoo-in to be named Liverpool's Player of the Year and (albeit with some criticism) already named in the PFA Team of the Year, Philippe Coutinho has enjoyed a very successful campaign at Anfield.
In his second full season with the club, the Brazilian has continued to improve—taking more chances, showing his attacking skills and long-range shooting abilities, while bagging five goals and five assists, creating a total of 51 chances for the Reds across 32 games.
It hasn't been a vintage year of football at Anfield, where Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has been forced to shuffle his pack and adapt his attacking formation to account for the departure of Luis Suarez, the ongoing injury problems of Daniel Sturridge and the poor form of Mario Balotelli.
Yet the team have gradually found their stride, and a large part of that is down to Coutinho's dazzling form both on the left and in a No. 10 role, his world-class strikes and growing influence among Rodgers' XI.
3. Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea
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Cesc Fabregas signed for Chelsea last summer following three seasons in La Liga with Barcelona.
When he returned to the Premier League—a division in which he spent eight years with Arsenal—he took it by storm.
In the first 12 games of the season, the Spaniard notched 11 league assists and one goal after forming an instant relationship with fellow Stamford Bridge newcomer Diego Costa.
With the campaign now into its final weeks, Fabregas leads the assists charts by some way with 17. Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson is his nearest competitor with 10.
A highly creative midfielder, the 28-year-old has created 90 chances in total for the Blues, with 73 of them being key passes. A slight dip in form during the winter period should not take anything away from the fact that it has been an incredibly successful first season back in the Premier League for Fabregas.
"To play with Fabregas is the dream of every striker. The guy sees the movement, sees the pass, is not selfish, makes always the right choice," Mourinho told Chelsea TV back in September (h/t Matt McGeehan in the Daily Mail).
2. Santi Cazorla, Arsenal
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Santi Cazorla is enjoying an incredibly strong season for Arsenal, where he has scored seven and assisted nine in the Premier League in 2014/15.
With Mesut Ozil injured for long periods of the campaign, the former Malaga man has been able to get a long run of games playing in an attacking role, where he has demonstrated his creativity and consistency for Arsene Wenger's team. He has also appeared in central midfield, where he has dictated the play and also captained the Gunners upon occasion.
A useful weapon when it comes to set pieces and penalties, Cazorla's ball control is second to none, and his passing range—with both feet—is outstanding.
With 71 chances for the Gunners, more assists than Eden Hazard and more goals than Cesc Fabregas, the 30-year-old Spaniard is in some of the best form of his career.
1. Eden Hazard, Chelsea
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This season, Eden Hazard has won the Premier League for the first time with Chelsea, was voted PFA Player of the Year and has had, without doubt, a truly stellar season at Stamford Bridge.
The 24-year-old has scored 14 goals, registered eight assists and made 81 key passes over the course of the 2014/15 campaign, which has seen him create a huge 89 chances during 35 top-flight appearances.
Often Chelsea's standout performer, Hazard has consistently impressed for Jose Mourinho's side with his control, dribbling skills, incredible vision and passing (he has a pass accuracy of 87 percent).
The former Lille man is also the league's most-fouled player, as seen on the Premier League's website, which gives some indication of how other teams are frustrated by the Belgian.
"He can achieve anything in the game, so scintillating are his talents," wrote Dominic Fifield in the Guardian following Chelsea's league title win.
Agree with our choices? Disagree? Let us know below!
Unless linked or stated otherwise, all player info comes from Squawka and ESPNFC.com.
