Showcase cards: 14 English players chosen by six selection rules, and the 2025/26 pool
14 cards, one player per position group under each of six selection rules.
How to read it: each card shows one player’s 2025/26 numbers, his cluster in the style and quality maps, the change since the previous season and his nearest historical analogs; the rule that chose him is at the foot. The atlas below plots every player-season of 2025/26.
How the 14 cards were chosen
Why these cards: one card per position group per rule, applied in this order — (a) highest goals + assists per 90, league-adjusted, (b) youngest national-team call-up, (c) most top-9 minutes among the 2026 FIFA World Cup squad, (d) most domestic-league minutes among the 2026 FIFA World Cup squad, (e) most top-9 minutes, (f) most domestic minutes under 23 without a top-9 season. A player already chosen by an earlier rule falls through to the next name, so a later row can show the second name by its measure. Rows group the six rules; the national-team core row holds two of them.
Style mapPrimary scorersQuality mapHigh-volume scorers in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Primary scorers — non-penalty goal rate nearly double the forward median on starter minutes (56 %). The finishing forward of a first-choice line (Watkins, Kane, Abraham).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↑change+0.11G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 2381 min → 2377 min)
Historical analogs at age 33 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Robert LewandowskiPOL
GER-Bundesliga 2020/21 · 2458 min · 0.95 ·
d = 1.49
Chris WoodNZL
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 1812 min · 0.68 ·
d = 1.52
Son Heung-minKOR
ENG-Premier League 2024/25 · 2110 min · 0.59 ·
d = 1.91
2026 FIFA World Cup · UEFA Euro 2024
Selected as: highest goals + assists per 90, league-adjusted among FW.
Style mapHigh-minutes creative midfieldersQuality mapProductive midfielders in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Starting playmakers — assist rate three times the midfield median on 62 % of minutes, scoring nearly double. The creative hub of the middle third (Bowen, Hudson-Odoi, Rashford).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↑change+0.11G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 978 min → 1763 min)
Historical analogs at age 29 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Jonas HofmannGER
GER-Bundesliga 2020/21 · 1817 min · 0.42 ·
d = 0.36
Leroy SanéGER
GER-Bundesliga 2024/25 · 1637 min · 0.51 ·
d = 0.47
Ruslan MalinovskyiUKR
ITA-Serie A 2021/22 · 1592 min · 0.39 ·
d = 0.65
2026 FIFA World Cup
Selected as: highest goals + assists per 90, league-adjusted among MF.
Style mapPrimary scorersQuality mapHigh-volume scorers in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Primary scorers — non-penalty goal rate nearly double the forward median on starter minutes (56 %). The finishing forward of a first-choice line (Watkins, Kane, Abraham).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↓change−0.14G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 2598 min → 2839 min)
Historical analogs at age 31 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Leandro TrossardBEL
ENG-Premier League 2024/25 · 2546 min · 0.51 ·
d = 0.48
Ciro ImmobileITA
ITA-Serie A 2020/21 · 2849 min · 0.55 ·
d = 0.70
Michail AntonioJAM
ENG-Premier League 2020/21 · 1974 min · 0.61 ·
d = 1.25
2026 FIFA World Cup · UEFA Euro 2024
Selected as: most top-9 minutes among 2026 FIFA World Cup squad FW.
The engine room — nearly 80 % of minutes with median output: holding and box-to-box midfielders whose value is continuity and structure, not numbers (Garner, Anderson, Mitchell).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↓change−0.06G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 2728 min → 3331 min)
Historical analogs at age 24 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Youri TielemansBEL
ENG-Premier League 2020/21 · 3357 min · 0.20 ·
d = 0.07
Declan RiceENG
ENG-Premier League 2022/23 · 3273 min · 0.17 ·
d = 0.20
Ryan GravenberchNED
ENG-Premier League 2025/26 · 2992 min · 0.24 ·
d = 0.56
2026 FIFA World Cup · UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2025
Selected as: most top-9 minutes among 2026 FIFA World Cup squad MF.
Style mapHigh-minutes starting forwardsQuality mapHigh-assist forwards in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Every-week starters — three quarters of the season's minutes, assist rate about 1.5 times the forward median, scoring at median. Mostly a top-five-league footprint: the first-choice forward who links play as much as he finishes (Calvert-Lewin, Saka, Davis).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↓change−0.25G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 1729 min → 2222 min)
Historical analogs at age 25 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
RicharlisonBRA
ENG-Premier League 2021/22 · 2523 min · 0.42 ·
d = 0.40
Igor JesusBRA
ENG-Premier League 2025/26 · 2298 min · 0.36 ·
d = 0.57
Timo WernerGER
ENG-Premier League 2020/21 · 2602 min · 0.47 ·
d = 0.64
2026 FIFA World Cup · UEFA Euro 2024
Selected as: most domestic minutes among 2026 FIFA World Cup squad FW.
Style mapHigh-scoring attacking midfieldersQuality mapProductive midfielders in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Goal-scoring attacking midfielders — non-penalty goal rate three times the midfield median on starter minutes (56 %). The number 8/10 who arrives in the box (Rogers, Gibbs-White, Anthony).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↓change−0.06G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 3114 min → 3280 min)
Historical analogs at age 24 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Morgan Gibbs-WhiteENG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 3156 min · 0.36 ·
d = 0.34
Enzo FernándezARG
ENG-Premier League 2024/25 · 2947 min · 0.36 ·
d = 0.53
Conor GallagherENG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 3128 min · 0.32 ·
d = 0.68
2026 FIFA World Cup
Selected as: most domestic minutes among 2026 FIFA World Cup squad MF.
The development tier and the largest forward cluster — median age 23, under 30 % of minutes, output just below median. Where most of the home pool's young forwards sit (Gordon, Shoretire, Madueke).
Historical analogs at age 24 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Joshua ZirkzeeNED
ENG-Premier League 2024/25 · 1402 min · 0.34 ·
d = 0.27
Matheus CunhaBRA
ENG-Premier League 2022/23 · 965 min · 0.31 ·
d = 0.36
Gianluca ScamaccaITA
ENG-Premier League 2022/23 · 926 min · 0.37 ·
d = 0.50
2026 FIFA World Cup
Selected as: youngest national-team call-up among FW.
Style mapYoung low-minute midfieldersQuality mapProductive midfielders in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Development midfielders — the home pool's largest midfield group: median age 22, under a third of minutes, output at median. The pipeline's waiting room (Bellingham, Hinshelwood, Mainoo).
Historical analogs at age 20 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Facundo BuonanotteARG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 1364 min · 0.24 ·
d = 0.17
Lewis MileyENG
ENG-Premier League 2025/26 · 1496 min · 0.27 ·
d = 0.31
Adam WhartonENG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 1297 min · 0.21 ·
d = 0.32
UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2025
Selected as: youngest national-team call-up among MF.
Style mapHigh-minutes starting forwardsQuality mapHigh-volume scorers in top-five leagues
Author’s reading (not computed)
Every-week starters — three quarters of the season's minutes, assist rate about 1.5 times the forward median, scoring at median. Mostly a top-five-league footprint: the first-choice forward who links play as much as he finishes (Calvert-Lewin, Saka, Davis).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↑change+0.05G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 1609 min → 2721 min)
Historical analogs at age 29 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Carlton MorrisENG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 2862 min · 0.37 ·
d = 0.19
Wilfried ZahaCIV
ENG-Premier League 2020/21 · 2612 min · 0.39 ·
d = 0.27
Jean-Philippe MatetaFRA
ENG-Premier League 2025/26 · 2218 min · 0.34 ·
d = 0.71
The engine room — nearly 80 % of minutes with median output: holding and box-to-box midfielders whose value is continuity and structure, not numbers (Garner, Anderson, Mitchell).
Trajectory 2024/25 → 2025/26
↑change+0.12G+A / 90 adj.(one season, 1594 min → 3413 min)
Historical analogs at age 25 (d = distance on three standardised features: league-adjusted goals + assists per 90, minutes, league multiplier)
Dwight McNeilENG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 2892 min · 0.26 ·
d = 0.73
Alfie DoughtyENG
ENG-Premier League 2023/24 · 2925 min · 0.29 ·
d = 0.78
Alexis Mac AllisterARG
ENG-Premier League 2022/23 · 2886 min · 0.19 ·
d = 0.78
Newcastle (ENG-Premier League) · 65 % of the league's goals scored
UEFA Euro 2024
Selected as: youngest home goalkeeper with minimum top-9 minutes.
* Each card renders the existing dataset; no computation beyond the join. Age on the name line is the 2026/27 season-start age (start year − birth year); the club is from the 2026/27 tables, or — labelled "latest known" — from FBref's country page where the player has no 2026/27 row. Age on the analog line follows the analog finder's convention (season start year + 1 − birth year).
The atlas: every player-season of 2025/26, one dot each
How to read it: every dot is the 2025/26 season of one of the forwards in the leagues this report covers. The two axes are the first two principal components of his five per-90 numbers (goals, assists, minutes share, age, cards) — dots that sit close together had similar seasons. The style projection uses the raw numbers, the quality projection the league-adjusted ones, so switching shows who moves when the strength of his league is counted. Colours are the clusters named below; green dots are English-eligible players, a black ring marks a national-team call-up. Hover a dot for the player, click to pin, scroll to zoom, type a name to find him.How to read it: every dot is the 2025/26 season of one of the midfielders in the leagues this report covers. The two axes are the first two principal components of his five per-90 numbers (goals, assists, minutes share, age, cards) — dots that sit close together had similar seasons. The style projection uses the raw numbers, the quality projection the league-adjusted ones, so switching shows who moves when the strength of his league is counted. Colours are the clusters named below; green dots are English-eligible players, a black ring marks a national-team call-up. Hover a dot for the player, click to pin, scroll to zoom, type a name to find him.How to read it: every dot is the 2025/26 season of one of the defenders in the leagues this report covers. The two axes are the first two principal components of his five per-90 numbers (goals, assists, minutes share, age, cards) — dots that sit close together had similar seasons. The style projection uses the raw numbers, the quality projection the league-adjusted ones, so switching shows who moves when the strength of his league is counted. Colours are the clusters named below; green dots are English-eligible players, a black ring marks a national-team call-up. Hover a dot for the player, click to pin, scroll to zoom, type a name to find him.
Every player in the 2025/26 pool — all 154, searchable
The cards above pick by rule. This is everyone with a 2025/26 season in the data: 24 forwards, 65 midfielders, 55 defenders and 10 goalkeepers. Open a name for what the report measures about him, in plain words. Rank is within his own position group on quality-adjusted production; the two arrows mark a mid-season move.
154 of 154
PlayerAgePosClubMinutesRank
No player matches. The pool is every English-eligible player with a season row in the leagues this report covers; a player in a league it does not cover is not here.
How we know
As an analytics question In numbers: 14 showcase cards chosen from the 2025/26 pool by six selection rules, one per position group per rule.
What we did We matched each player's season to his national-team call-ups and photo, then picked one player per position group under each of six rules.
Sources 2025/26 FBref, Wikipedia and Wikidata rows joined by name and birth year; six selection rules, applied in order — see below.
What this means
The cards are examples chosen by rule, not a ranking or a selection: a player appears because he comes first under a rule, and a later rule skips anyone already chosen. A card’s numbers are one season’s; the analogs show what followed for similar player-seasons, not what will follow for this player.
What this does not show
Players the rules did not pick (the full pool is in the list below), anything beyond the five season numbers, and any prediction for a player.
Data snapshot: FBref tables fetched 14 September 2026, snapshot commit ef7dbd4 · code: src/historical_analogs.py, src/render.py (_build_cards), src/pool_table.py · status: exploratory, not pre-registered · all limitations
