“Individual speed is a serviceable advantage,” Real Madrid icon Ferenc Puskas once noted. “But to run madly and without purpose is of no value.”
The Hungarian icon barely broke out of a trot during his illustrious playing days more than half a century ago, and still managed to establish himself as one of the best to have ever kicked a ball. This season’s Premier League speedsters certainly vary in quality, ranging from Europe’s most prolific striker to a 29-year-old playing his first season of top-flight football.
Some surprising figures have missed out – most notably, Kyle Walker – but there is no surprise when it comes to who takes top spot.
All statistics from Opta, via the BBC.
To even be in the Premier League – let alone one of the fastest in the division – is a dream for Ipswich Town’s fleet-footed winger.
Wes Burns had barely ventured above England’s third tier before he joined the Tractor Boys in 2021. Following back-to-back promotions under the stewardship of Kieran McKenna, Burns can now unleash his pace on England’s top flight.
“The key thing about Fabio is that he just wants to play football,” Carvalho’s first coach at his youth team team, Gregg Cruttwell, told Sky Sports over the summer.
During his two years at Liverpool, Carvalho scarcely had time to register a sprint. The Portugal-born former England youth international has had more opportunities at Brentford, even if he is yet to consistently hit top gear.
In 2019, Dominic Calvert-Lewin was asked who the fastest player at Everton was. The confident striker put himself forward, with a nod towards an ageing Theo Walcott. When Calvert-Lewin was quizzed on the same topic 18 months later, Ben Godfrey had taken the mantle.
Now that the pacy defender is at Atalanta, the numbers have proven Calvert-Lewin to be the quickest at Goodison Park.
The fleet-footed Julian Araujo was fittingly quick to stress his dedication to Bournemouth. “You guys will get everything out of me,” the former Barcelona right-back declared in his first interview for the Cherries.
“I will ride for this team. I will be myself. You will never see me back down and I will give my all for the team.” That application has been borne out on the speedometer.
After Brendan Rodgers brought James Justin to Leicester City in 2019, he gushed: “He’s one of our best players at running without the ball.”
The tactically versatile defender can burn up either flank, as comfortable with his left foot as his natural right.
Injury has undoubtedly limited Harvey Barnes’ involvement for Newcastle United, but the penetrative form of Anthony Gordon has also played a role in denying him game time.
Across the opening two months of the campaign, Barnes has proven to be quicker than Gordon while outscoring his compatriot from the left flank.
Jaden Philogene was first part of Aston Villa’s academy since 2018, but only made his first top-flight start for the club this season.
The prodigious England under-21 international had to leave the club for Hull City last year, before returning this past summer. “What I did at Hull,” Philogene said, “I want to do the same things at Villa Park; make the fans aware of my skills and score goals.” The fans are certainly aware of his pace.
Most observers would have guessed Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez or even Virgil van Dijk as Liverpool’s fastest player, before coming up with Trent Alexander-Arnold as a suggestion.
The wonderful passer has produced an impressive turn of pace this season, coming into his prime years at 26, while some of his older teammates have clearly passed their physical peak.
Wolfsburg boasted one of the quickest backlines in Bundesliga history during the 2022/23 campaign. The running credentials of current Tottenham Hotspur speedster Micky van de Ven are well established, but the burly figure who lined up alongside him, Maxence Lacroix, was hardly a slouch.
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner – another ex-Wolfsburg employee – was quick to snap up Lacroix over the summer.
Antonee Robinson’s unbridled athleticism is awesome. Fulham’s fastest player has also registered the most sprints and covered more distance than any of his teammates this term – including the blistering Adama Traore.
Such a remarkable physical capacity – combined with an ever-improving appreciation of his defensive responsibilities – earned him links with a move to Liverpool last summer.
“I’m still just having fun in the playground,” Mohammed Kudus says of his approach to searing through the Premier League. West Ham’s direct forward certainly makes the division’s defenders look like bumbling school children with his blistering speed.
Such a swift acceleration has helped Kudus complete more dribbles than any other player in the Premier League since his debut in the competition.
Eddie Howe was bitter to lose Yankuba Minteh over the summer, forced into selling the jet-heeled winger to satisfy the club’s profit and sustainability rules. Newcastle’s loss was Brighton‘s gain.
Minteh has spearheaded the Seagulls’ fast start under Fabian Hurzeler, taking the division by storm. But Brighton knew the immense talent they were getting. As the club’s director David Weir warned before Minteh’s Premier League debut: “He is an exciting attacking player with incredible speed.”
Wesley Fofana infamously insisted that his Chelsea teammate, Mykhailo Mudryk, was faster than his international colleague Kylian Mbappe. But Pedro Neto has outstripped the Ukraine winger so far.
Both players recorded faster speeds last season, but are battling for a position in the starting XI – as well as the sprinting charts – this term.
Like most middling strikers, Cameron Archer is at his best when he doesn’t have time to get into his own head.
“It’s more instinct really,” the Saints striker told the Daily Echo. “For most of my goals, I don’t really think.” Unfortunately, being able to burst beyond opposition backlines often gives Archer too much time to think.
Alejandro Garnacho discards the humble, down-to-earth persona which he carries around in everyday life when he puts on his boots.
“On the pitch,” Manchester United‘s academy chief Nick Cox remembered, “you’d see a little bit of what we see now: that desire to be a little bit of a showman; a desire to try and do things that are a little bit unorthodox and try to entertain. That’s his thing: his desire to entertain.”
Shaped by the watchful eye of his disciplined father, Gabriel Martinelli has been training as a professional footballer before nursery.
“He had this desire,” his father has said. “There was no such thing as a lost cause. He went for every ball like it was his last meal.” A rapid turn of pace has helped Martinelli scurry down plenty of dead-ends.
Kyle Walker is conspicuous by his absence from this list. There is no shame is being slower than Erling Haaland. As Pep Guardiola gushed: “There’s no central defender, not even with a gun…it’s impossible to stop him. He’s so fast, so powerful.”
But Walker is increasingly living up to his surname. The proud speed merchant now ranks as only the 80th fastest player in the division this season.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s counter-attacking approach is perfectly suited to Anthony Elanga’s searing speed. Never was this more evident than in Nottingham Forest’s victory at Anfield in September.
Elanga was only introduced for the final half-hour of the trip to Liverpool, fresh enough to burst beyond the hosts’ backline and tee up Callum Hudson-Odoi for the game’s only goal, thereby securing Forest’s first victory at the iconic stadium since 1969.
Carlos Forbs did not need long to show the Wolverhampton Wanderers faithful what he was all about. The late-summer arrival from Ajax topped the team’s speed charts while only making his first Premier League start.
Signed as a replacement for Pedro Neto, Forbs can match the Portuguese winger for pace, but it remains to be seen if he can replicate his predecessor’s prolific output.
“I can say I’m fast, I think,” Micky van de Ven sheepishly grinned while he was still at Wolfsburg. That much, quite clearly, is true.
Van de Ven is not only the fastest Premier League player currently in the division, but he has clocked up three of the four fastest sprint times ever recorded in the division since records began in 2020, per the Premier League.
