The 14 most stylish footballers in the Premier League right now
A definitive list of the players who get their off-duty fits right, from Golden Boot-winner Son Heung-min to England star Mason Mount
A stylish footballer can sometimes feel like a bit of an oxymoron. Money does strange things to a man – including compelling him to spend a week’s wages on the same dodgy trainers as all his teammate – and for every Becks in a nice jumper there are 1,001 Neymars in chrome-plated tailoring at the opening of a Paris nightclub.
But there are more than a few well-clobbered bright spots out there, and as we take a pause from the Premier League and await the World Cup, now feels like the moment to celebrate our best-dressed and most stylish footballers.
From Burberry signing up Son Heung-min as its latest ambassador and the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin pushing back against the tired stereotypes associated with footballer fashion, here's a list of the PL players who get it right when they get dressed.
JUNG YEON-JE1/14Son Heung-min - Tottenham Hotspur
A two-foot thumping, Arsenal-shredding monster with perfect hair and a billboard smile, it’s no wonder Burberry snapped the Spurs and South Korean icon as its latest ambassador. A man so famous in South Korea that TV channels show a special graphic on the screen when he’s playing, Son’s style off the pitch errs on the ‘considered.’ Expensive jeans, slouchy white tees and, if his new campaign is anything to go off, a bit of gorp-adjacent nylon outerwear in lots of black. Great news.
LATOUR-LAMBERT FANNY2/14Mohammed Salah - Liverpool
Aided by a magnificent corkscrew lid and abs that a geologist should probably take a look at to suss out what exactly is going on there, Egyptian King Mo Sallah owns one of the great watch collections in footballdom, and also knows how to dress it up when the occasion calls for it. Whether it’s retro Adidas tees and short, (short) shorts finished with a psychedelic headband and Gucci coat for a certain GQ cover, or a tidy tux at the Ballon d’Or (give him one, football!).
Michael Regan - The FA3/14Ilkay Gündoğan - Manchester City
A cerebral midfield general with an eye for goal, the German is blessed with the kind of perfectly proportioned facial hair and immaculate black coiff' that makes him look like a matinee star. Gundogan also subscribes to the Pep Guardiola school of ‘let me put on a roll neck, how about that’? Which is one of our favourite football fashion schools.
- Peter White/Getty Images4/14
Héctor Bellerín - Arsenal
He might have moved to Seville and grown a little moustache, but Héctor Bellerín is still an Arsenal player! An actual trailblazer when it comes to PL progressive style, Héctor was one of the first of the modern crop to branch out from branded hoodies, taking a genuine interest in the way things were made. Meeting the designers, sitting front row, wearing a little dangly earring and a Vivien Westwood jumpsuit. And how about those Adidas trackies and white vest in the latest three stripes campaign?
Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC5/14Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
Come on, we had to include him. The player who built himself from scratch into a football god. The man who will NOT EVER STOP TAKING THE FREE KICKS EVEN THOUGH HE NEVER, EVER SCORES THEM ANYMORE. A man who has gone from a wonky-toothed kid with a dodgy Madeira mullet to a global superstar with a smile that could raze a Medieval peasant village. Ronaldo is the king of the blue jean, white shirt with all of the buttons down and aviator sunglasses and, you know what, he can get away with it. He’s Ronaldo and he somehow has gotten younger every year and has frosted tips at the age of 37, but… he’s Ronaldo.
Issac Baldizon6/14Paul Pogba - Manchester United
Don’t tell Graeme Souness, but Paul Pogba is blockbuster. World Cup winner, French poster boy, the guy that had everyone dabbing for a while, Pogba dresses the part and has tried every single hairstyle in the world, including the full Bic head shave when he has a full hairline, which is a big flex. He is an athlete who is used to having eyes on him. Look at that Adidas x Gucci campaign in the full tracksuit. Box. Office. He scored a goal in a World Cup final, wears white suits all the time, and always looks cool, or at least supremely confident. Sounds like a decent set-up to us.
- Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images7/14
Mason Mount - Chelsea
It’s been interesting to observe Mason Mount’s style development over the years. One of the difficult things about being young, famous, a generational athlete and having loads of money is that you grow up in the public eye. Mount has gone from smiley academy boy to Chelsea and England stalwart and, in more recent times, into a low-key sort of fashion guy. A flash of a black LV shade there; a Burberry blouson here and even an Aime Leon Dore rugby sweater on This Morning. Not many people can claim that, can they?
- Cindy Ord8/14
Tom Davies - Everton
The Scouse fashion Robin to Calvert-Lewin’s big-trousered Batman, Everton’s Davies lets his perm and ‘tache flow free, has a direct plug to someone who owns lots of great retro anoraks and even has a #35mm film camera for appropriately grainy fit pics. That set of him and DCL cutting about New York in full Gucci on Citibikes a couple of years ago were fun, weren’t they?
Anthony Devlin9/14Marcus Rashford - Manchester United
A young man who has fed the children, got them reading, and scored loads of goals for United, Marcus Rashford is living proof that football can be a genuine force for good and change… and look immaculate in Burberry. Receiving his MBE last year, Rashford wore a custom morning suit personally designed by Riccardo Tisci. "The outfit really captured my personality,” Rashford told GQ of the experience. “It includes really personal thoughtful details like a pair of 'MR' cufflinks.
“I don’t get many opportunities to dress like this to be honest, but when I do Burberry is the first pitstop. In moments like this, it’s important that I use my platform to champion homegrown brands, especially a brand like Burberry.”
Plumb Images10/14James Maddison - Leicester
Jack Grealish, Dele Alli, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, and Ben ‘Chilly’ Chillwell; all young men who like cutting about in little sunglasses in the sunshine every summer. But don’t you dare forget Madderz. The Leicester playmaker with *John Motson voice* a wand of a right foot. He also casts a certain magic over an Amiri shirt and a Boohoo campaign. He’s perhaps the most footballer dressing footballer out there, including the industry-standard blacked-out G-Wagon and French Bulldog worth more than all of our salaries combined, but there’s something about Madderz that you can’t help but admire. He’s got that swagger. I’ll wear a fun shirt and a big fat chain with you, Madderz.
Matt McNulty - Manchester City11/14Jack Grealish - Manchester City
Jack Grealish is probably (definitely) the England footballer who’d be the most fun on a night out. You, Jack, the boys, somewhere in Ibiza and you’re all wearing little tinted sunglasses and smiling. This is the life. He’s someone who looks like he’s actually enjoying it out there, dazzling defenders with his magic feet, freshly-tinted flow and massive calves, Mrs Grealish 69 hollering from the crowd.
He also has fun with his clothes, a bit of flash, sure, but he’s recently been upgrading his credentials. There’s the (alleged) huge Gucci partnership that is coming any day now, and a recent move towards more directional pieces. A sleeveless knit, a bit of tailoring, and a loafer, but you know he’s still got the IT factor ready for Ushuaia when the time is right, which is part of the Grealish appeal. It’s why he’s the most compelling player on any pitch, or open-top bus parade, that he steps onto.
Daniel Archer12/14Dominic Calvert-Lewin - Everton
“I am more than happy to be a standard-bearer for new flamboyance,” stated the Everton striker during his recent GQ Hype cover story. Whether it’s Chanel bags, flowing Dunhill trousers, or Gucci boots with a bit of heel, DCL has the look of someone comfortable in both the clothes he wears and his own skin. Further proof that footballers need to embrace the wilder side of fashion… and wear more mad Prada vests.
Serena Taylor13/14Allan Saint-Maximin - Newcastle United
The only footballer that has worn a Gucci headband on the pitch, the mercurial Frenchman with the light feet and funny tweets is currently lighting up the pitch at St. James's Park in more ways than one. Okay, he does have a beige drop crop cargo pant in his locker, but he wore a Gucci headband on the pitch! That’s pretty good.
Karwai Tang14/14Bukayo Saka - Arsenal
The Arsenal golden boy has a burgeoning career as a fully-fledged Football Fashion Man. GQ Style cover story in Bottega puddle boots: Check! Aime Leon Dore campaign looking a bit moody, but in a way that had loads of fans writing ‘this is cool’ in the comments: also check! Then there’s the increasingly avant-garde tailoring turn, with some very sharp black and white LV and Burberry suiting. Commentators are always going on about how well he did in his GCSEs as a teenager, but what they should be going on about is how good he looks in a suit.
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