The 10 Best Dribblers Bringing Joy Back to Football in 2026
- Think Football Ideas
- 6 hours ago
- 6 min read
Ten Footballers Keeping the Art of Dribbling Alive
Football has always found its spark in moments where structure loosens, and imagination takes over. Tactical plans dominate preparation, data shapes decisions, and collective movement defines most matches, yet the game still breathes differently when a player chooses to carry the ball forward with intent.
Those moments do not decide every result, but they change how the contest feels and how it is remembered. Across Europe and beyond, a modern group of dribblers continue to offer that sense of freedom.
They move through pressure, adjust rhythm, and invite defenders into situations they would rather avoid. Space appears through control rather than coincidence.
Their value reaches further than clips shared online. They influence defensive shapes, force reactions, and give teammates belief when patterns stall, with dribbling becoming a tool of expression with real weight.
The 10 Best Dribblers Bringing Joy Back to Football in 2026.
1. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Lamine Yamal carries the fearless energy of youth, combined with an unusual maturity when he receives the ball. He approaches full-backs without hesitation, guiding the ball onto either foot, then often slipping inside with delicate control.
There is street football heritage in his style... the instinct to take responsibility and entertain while remaining efficient. His take-ons are purposeful, leading to cut-backs, shots, or drawn fouls in advanced areas.
Barcelona’s future attack appears increasingly built around his ability to destabilise with the earliest touch of possession. Every performance feels like a chapter in a career opening at speed.
2. Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
Michael Olise has shaped his identity through elegance in motion. He receives the ball almost silently, then begins to unpick defenders through patient, angled carries. His dribbling is economical, with little excess, yet full of threat.
He drifts from the right into central corridors, inviting attention before releasing a through pass or accelerating into the area. What marks him out is awareness, understanding where pressure will arrive and steering possession away from it without panic.
At Bayern, surrounded by established stars like Harry Kane, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala, he has carved out a distinct role as a carrier who links phases and unlocks compact setups.
3. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Paris Saint-Germain)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s path from Dinamo Tbilisi's Football Academy to Naples, then Paris, reads like a footballing migration driven by ambition and daring belief in his own ceiling.
In Italy, he became a symbol of revival, helping Napoli to a long-awaited title under Luciano Spalletti and earning comparisons with the club's folklore.
In France, he brought that momentum with him, helping Luis Enrique's PSG side secure their first-ever Champions League title in May 2025.
Kvaratskhelia's dribbling works in layers. The first to unbalance, the second to escape, the third to punish. He drives at defenders with deceptive angles, pulling them into decisions they do not want to make.
Numbers merely underline what the eye already sees - frequent take-ons, high-risk carries into crowded areas, attacking movements that pull entire back lines out of structure. For PSG, his presence alters how opponents prepare for an entire week.
4. Rayan Cherki (Manchester City)
Rayan Cherki's move to Manchester placed him inside one of the most tactically demanding environments in world football, yet he treats tight spaces as comfort rather than constraint. His low, controlled dribble resembles a musician improvising within a disciplined score.
He glides, pauses, feints, and then bursts through seams that appeared closed a moment earlier. Cherki’s ambidexterity makes him difficult to read. Defenders cannot funnel him toward a weaker foot.
His dribbles are not indulgent detours but progressions that tilt possession toward danger as he has often done for Man City this season. In a side known for rehearsed patterns, he adds something unpredictable and alive, capable of breaking the symmetry of a match in a single sequence.
5. Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid)
Vinícius Júnior brings urgency to the left flank at the Bernabéu. Straight-line speed defines him less than the control he maintains at those speeds. He receives the ball wide, sets a trap through body shape, then slices inside with a sudden acceleration that leaves trackers trailing.
His dribbling pins full-backs deep and forces entire defences to tilt toward him, which opens lanes elsewhere. Matches often bend around his movement; each surge commands attention.
His game has grown from raw explosiveness into something more calculated, where every carry owns direction and consequence.
6. Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain)
Few players carry unpredictability like French forward Ousmane Dembélé. He moves with symmetry that confuses opponents. Dembélé is comfortable striking, crossing, or bursting away on either foot, and his dribbling resembles a moving puzzle, with each touch inviting the defender into the wrong decision.
At Paris Saint-Germain, his role is to fracture stable lines. He takes the ball in isolation, commits opponents, and transforms safe defensive situations into emergencies.
That influence was clear throughout 2025, as his form drove PSG to a historic treble and placed him at the centre of their attacking identity.
When he accelerates, the pitch seems to widen for teammates arriving in space created by his movement.
His repertoire of feints and sudden changes of direction remains among the most extensive in the game, a season crowned by the Ballon d’Or in recognition of sustained dominance at the highest level.
7. Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
Lionel Messi’s dribbling now belongs to a different phase of his career, yet its essence remains untouched. The runs are shorter, the bursts more selective, but the effect is identical: defenders get drawn toward an invisible thread he appears to control.
His touches retain that close, magnetic feel, the ball almost stitched to his boots. He wanders into pockets, collects possession, and then unpicks back lines through angled drifts toward the goal.
The subtlety defines him now - balance, disguise, and the ability to make decisions before defenders recognise danger.
Even across the Atlantic, albeit in a lower-standard league, the craft endures, as he reshapes matches through economy of motion. The 2026 World Cup should give a clearer picture of where he stands today.
8. Désiré Doué (Paris Saint-Germain)
Désiré Doué introduces a different tone on the wing. His dribbling is powerful yet balanced, built on strength as much as finesse. He leans into challenges, rolls away from pressure, then surges forward again.
In confined spaces, he remains composed, changing angles with subtle touches that protect the ball while progressing play. For a teenager, his decision-making in the final third stands out.
He knows when to eliminate an opponent, when to shield, and when to release. PSG value him not only as a talent for the future but as an active influence in how the team breaks compact defensive blocks.
9. Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao)
Nico Williams brings electricity to Bilbao’s left side. His vertical running forces constant retreats from opposing full-backs, and when he shifts body weight, the first step feels decisive. He attacks space with conviction and stretches matches horizontally.
His dribbling has become more refined, pairing speed with improved end product, as we have also seen when he plays for the Spanish national team.
Athletic Bilbao thrive on transitions and wing play, and Williams embodies both identities, hitting defenders at pace and committing them in wide channels.
When confidence flows through him, the entire stadium senses the possibility that something will happen the next time he receives the ball.
10. Rodrygo (Real Madrid)
Rodrygo’s dribbling relies less on raw speed and more on silk. His first touch positions him ahead of opponents before the duel even begins. He slaloms through narrow gaps, opening pathways for combinations around the box.
Where others burst, he glides. His movement inside channels makes him dangerous on both flanks and centrally, and he carries a composure that hides intent until the final moment.
Real Madrid benefit from his versatility, able to attack from different angles because of his ability to retain control under pressure and slip beyond markers with minimal backlift in his stride.
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