Bukayo Saka

Saka has spent his entire career at boyhood club Arsenal, becoming one of the Premier League's most consistent wide attackers and a key part of the side that finally won the title again in 2025-26, also reaching that season's Champions League final.

For England he has been a first-choice right winger through multiple tournaments, but the 2025-26 season's physical toll — an Achilles injury sustained in the Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City in March 2026 — followed him into the World Cup.

A right-footed winger who cuts inside from the right flank to shoot or combine centrally, in the mould of an inverted winger rather than a touchline crosser, with a low center of gravity that lets him ride contact in tight spaces.

Saka played through discomfort from his Achilles injury for the final month of Arsenal's title-winning season, and arrived at the 2026 World Cup short of full fitness. England manager Thomas Tuchel opted not to risk him from the start against Croatia in the tournament opener, starting Noni Madueke instead and using Saka from the bench while he built up match sharpness.