WhoScored Top 50 - Part I: Grealish and Muller scrape onto leaderboard

With football very much out of action and a return date anybody's guess, we're taking the opportunity to run through our highest rated players in a ten-part series. Counting down in fives, the following quintet have all either climbed the rankings substantially from last season's scores or are new entrants entirely.

Without further ado we start with those ranked 46th to 50th, including two mooted Manchester United targets and a pair that were relegated from one of the Premier League's worst performing teams ever just four years ago.

Kicking off the top rated 50 players in Europe's top five leagues this season is Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. The Serb may have started the campaign slowly, but four goals - the last of which proved decisive in their 2-1 home win over Inter - and four assists represent respectable returns for the midfielder in this title chasing Lazio outfit. Putting his 6'3" frame to good use, 3.6 aerial duels won per game ranks among the top 10 players in Italy's top tier this term to help ease pressure on the defence from any direct aerial threat and has helped Milinkovic-Savic return a WhoScored rating of 7.33. 

The 25-year-old's rating is up from 7.15 last season, which is enough to jump 60 places in our rankings from 2018/19.

The first Bundesliga represenative is Gladbach forward Marcus Thuram. The Frenchman has proven an inspired signing from relegated Ligue 1 outfit Guingamp with six goals and eight assists thus far. Said tallies have come from respective averages 1.8 shots and 1 key pass per game, ensuring the Foals remain on the coattails of Bayern in the Bundesliga title race. Maximising a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'dribbling', 57 successful take ons is one of the better returns in Germany's top tier this term and has seen Thuram also return a WhoScored rating of 7.33. 

With a modest score of 7.00 last season for an admittedly poor team, Thuram has taken to life in Germany superbly and climbed from just under 200 places, from 246th.

Exceeding expectations on the back of Aston Villa's Premier League return, Jack Grealish was outshone in the early weeks of the campaign by John McGinn, but the England hopeful has since excelled for the relegation-threatened Villans. Reports of a summer exit to either Manchester side refuse to die down and for good reason as only Kevin De Bruyne (72) has made more key passes from open play than the 24-year-old (57) in the Premier League this season. The most fouled player in Europe's top five leagues, having been brought down a total of 127 times, opponents have identified Grealish as Villa's biggest threat and with seven goals and six assists helping return a WhoScored rating of 7.33, it's easy to see why. 

Having been in the Championship this time last year, inspiring a late bid for the play-offs, Grealish is an entirely new entry in our top-flight rankings.

Back to Germany, and this time with defending champions and Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Thomas Muller may have struggled to hold down a regular starting spot under Niko Kovac, but Hansi Flick has identified the 30-year-old as the man to pry apart defences and been duly rewarded. Indeed, no player has registered more assists than Muller (16) in Europe's top five leagues this season, while his 24 clear-cut chances created is more than any other Bundesliga player. Whilst also scoring six goals, it's his creative return that has helped the German star to a WhoScored rating of 7.33. 

Having turned 30 this season, Muller has defied any doubters that felt his form was on the decline, jumping 41 places this year following a rating of 7.19 in the previous campaign.

The first Ligue 1 player of many in the top 50, Idrissa Gueye has been a strong performer in a PSG shirt on the back of his arrival from Everton last summer. A return to France has prompted an increase in his attacking output with the midfielder - a ball winner by trade - chipping in with 1.2 key passes per game this season. Gueye is still at his possession hunting best too, as evidenced by 3.3 tackles per Ligue 1 match, while a 92.7% pass success rate from an average of 78.3 passes per game, both of which rank among the top 10 players, highlight his fine distribution when he does win the ball. 

Having placed outside the top 100 last season with a solid if unspectacular score of 7.14, there's little doubt playing with better players has enabled Gueye to step his game up another level.