Best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season

2020-21 has come and gone and as usual the Bavarian Giants, Bayern Munich, have won yet another Bundesliga title, which would be their 9th consecutive title. while this has been totally deserved by Bayern Munich as they have been absolutely sensational these past few years, their continued success have given Bundesliga a bad rep as being perhaps not the toughest league in Europe.

We’re here to change that view and introduce you to some of the players that make Bundesliga such an exciting league to watch, especially last season. so we have compiled a list of the

best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season

and have tried to be as inclusive of other teams as we could. Join us to find out who are these players:

Players Ranking For the Bundesliga 2020/2021

we have to say up front that picking the players on this list was especially difficult as there were so many amazing and consistent individual performances among the Bundesliga players that it was hard to only pick 10. So without further ado let’s find out what is our players ranking for the Bundesliga 2020/2021:

Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig)

We start off our list of 10 best players in the Bundesliga 2020-21 season with RB Leipzig’s outstanding goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, who had one hell of a season last year. The Hungarian has led a strange career that even included 5 seasons at Liverpool to reach here but as he himself correctly believes, he is one of the best goalkeepers working in Europe right now. Although he doesn’t get talked about all that much.

In terms of his performances in the 2020-21 season of Bundesliga goes, Gulacsi only missed one match throughout the season and only conceded 30 goals in all those matches which makes him the 2nd best goalkeeper behind Leverkusen’s Hradecky in terms of the goals conceded amongst the goalkeepers that had 25+ games during the season. in terms of his feet work and attempted passes go, Gulacsi leaves a lot to be desired but he makes it up with being a damn good sweeper keeper who had 53 sweeping actions last season, even more than the mighty Manuel Neuer!

RB Leipzig had the best defense in the Bundesliga as they only conceded 32 goals last season, 30 of which Gulacsi conceded himself. He has the best clean sheet record in the league with 15 clean sheets and has the lowest amount of goals conceded per 90 minutes with 0.91 goals conceded per game. The 31-year-old has been a huge part of RB Leipzig’s emergence as a top club in Germany and was undoubtedly one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season.

Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)

Mats Hummels has always been one of the greatest defenders of his generation but he has experienced a resurgence in the past couple of years after rejoining Borussia Dortmund. The 32-year-old is now a genuine leader for Die Schwarzengelben and his great form last season especially in the second half of the season was one of the reasons why Dortmund made it into the top 4 to secure a Champions League qualification for the next season. it’s also why he is our pick to be one of the 10 best players in the Bundesliga 2020-21 season.

Hummels has always been a ball-carrying center-back who is exceptionally well at progressing the ball from the defense. while his playing style suits any attack-minded team, like Bayern, Hummels is always at his best while playing for a hyper-attacking side like Dortmund. His high interceptions rate (2.2 interceptions per game), as well as his dribbling ability, allows him to regularly start counter attacks for Dortmund and transition them from a defensive form to an attacking one in seconds which has worked wonders for Dortmund.

Hummels’ ball distribution is also second to none among Bundesliga defenders as he had the most long passes among the outfield players last season as well as having the 2

nd

most passes in the league with an 88.8% success rate in general. This means he is capable of both carrying the ball or distributing the ball with a pass, a combination rarely seen in world football, at least to this level.

In addition to being one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season, Hummels helped Borussia Dortmund achieve 11 clean sheets, which makes them the 3

rd

best in the league, Hummels also scored 5 goals in the league which helped Dortmund immensely in their pursuit of a Champions League place finish. Hummels is exceptionally good in the air, having won 3.9 aerial duels in the league and is 2

nd

best in the league in terms of aerial duels, which most of his goals come from. For a guy that is 32 years old, Hummels seem to be in top form and appears to have a couple of more good seasons in him at the elite level!

Willie Orban (RB Leipzig)

We talked earlier about how Leipzig had the best defensive record in Bundesliga last season, both in terms of clean sheets as well as conceded goals, which was down to 22 players in huge part, one being their goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi and the other being the highly-rated center back Willie Orban who are both among 

our top 10 best players in the Bundesliga 2020-21 season

. While Orban’s partner in crime, Dayot Upamecano, is the one that the media focus much of their attention on, let’s see why we chose this underrated defender over his partner to be on our list.

While Dayot Upamecano is one of the best young defenders in Europe right now, Willie Orban was better in almost every defending stat last season. the Hungarian especially excels at aerial duels, having won 3.9 aerial duels in the league on par with Dortmund’s Mats Hummels and only behind the best in the league in that stat, Fabian Klos. He is also ahead of Upamecano in terms of Interceptions (1.4), tackles (1.4), blocks (0.7) and clearances (2.4) per game.

Orban’s ability in the air has allowed him to score 4 goals last season and become a genuine threat on set pieces. He has also provided an assist to furthermore aid his team in attack. Orban is a great distributor of the ball and if Leipzig manages to find him the right partner, with Orban’s leadership qualities, they won’t feel the absence of Upamecano all that much. Apart from being one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season, Orban will be one of the most important players for RB Leipzig going into the next season.

Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

The first Bayern Munich player on our list and a genuine contender for the 2020/21 Bundesliga Team of the Season is the amazingly talented Joshua Kimmich. The right-back turned

has been brilliant ever since he joined the club in 2015 and has already become one of the most decorated German players and Bayern Munich players of all time. Kimmich replaced Tiago as the team’s main ball distributor and his unbelievable performances at the role have made Bayern Munich’s 9th consecutive Bundesliga title possible.

Joshua Kimmich is perhaps the embodiment of German work ethic as the 26-year-old has not only been able to replace Bayern’s legendary former captain, Philip Lahm, but also he has adjusted his game and brought a lot more creativity to his playing style to replace Tiago Alcantara as well. Kimmich is a dead ball specialist, delivering most of Bayern’s corners and indirect free kicks himself. He has the most completed passes (1790) amongst Bundesliga midfielders as well as most through balls (11) and most passes from set-pieces that lead to a shot (38).

With 2.4 key passes per game, Kimmich was able to assist 10 times and score 4 goals for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last season. he was at the heart of everything that happened for Bayern, whether defensively or in attack and was their general in midfield. Although there are players who score or assist more than him, Kimmich is arguably Bayern Munich’s most important player because without him their overall shape would just fall apart., which is why he is one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season.

Wout Weghorst (Wolfsburg)

Wout Weghorst is perhaps the most underrated striker in Bundesliga in the past few years. The Dutch striker has been consistently brilliant for Wolfsburg in the past 3 seasons but last season he was particularly well as he became one of the 10

best players in the Bundesliga 2020-21 season

and was finally able to help Wolfsburg secure a Champions League qualification for the next season.

Weghorst, who is 1.97m (6 ft 6in) tall, is the perfect image of a classic number 9 as the 28-year-old is extremely good in the air and has a great finishing ability. He is also great at bringing his teammates into attack which has resulted in him providing key passes and assists. Basically, when it comes to Wolfsburg, Weghorst is their main man as he is both their top goal scorer and top assist provider in the league. Weghorst is also a leader on the pitch, having had experience captaining AZ Alkmaar in his Eredivisie days, where he was also one of the top strikers in the league.

With 20 goals and 8 assists Wout Weghorst had a hand in 46% of Wolfsburg’s goals last season and was definitely one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season and the league’s 4th best top scorer behind only Lewandowski, Haaland and Andre Silva. Weghorst has been deserving of a big move for years now and it’ll be interesting to see if the Dutch could finally move to a bigger club this season or will decide to ride his high in Wolfsburg and try their luck in the Champions League.

Filip Kostic (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Filip Kostic’s partnership with Andre Silva last season was electric. The pair propelled Eintracht into the Bundesliga Elite and only lost out on a Champions League spot on the last day of the season, which is why both players are on our list and contenders for the 2020/21 Bundesliga Team of the Season. it’s true that Silva got most of the attention during and after the season ended but Filip Kostic was the one who engineered Eintracht’s success all the way through the season as has been the case for him and Frankfurt in the past 2 seasons as well.

A regular top assist provider contender in the past 3 seasons, Kostic is a classic wide midfielder, the kind that is so rare nowadays. The Serbian’s abilities remind us of players like David Beckham and Ryan Giggs as he is good at taking long shots, delivering inch perfect crosses and dangerous free-kicks, both direct and indirect, as well as creating chances for his teammates. Kostic has a rocket of a left-foot that has him produces some of the most outrageous goals in the Bundesliga last season.  

Kostic’s specialty is his crosses and creating chances. He ranked 1st in the Bundesliga for delivering successful crosses into the 18-yard box as well as crosses in general with 51 and 221 respectively. He was also 2nd for delivering successful passes into the 18-yard box with 69 as well as making 3 key passes per game which was the highest in the league.

As a result, Filip Kostic ended up delivering 14 assists, 8 of which were to Andre Silva which makes them the most successful collaborative duo in the league. Kostic also scored 4 goals which was a bit low considering his abilities but combined with his assists a great tally nonetheless. Filip Kostic was definitely one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season and as a result, there has been some buzz surrounding him during the transfer window with some Serie A clubs after. There is no doubt that wherever he goes next season he will bring the same quality that he has shown in Eintracht.

Andre Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Moving to another Eintracht Frankfurt player who had one heck of a season, we have Portugal’s Andre Silva. The 25-year-old striker has had a strange career so far, first rising to prominence with Porto but then failing to meet the high expectations as he moved to AC Milan and now 4 seasons after leaving Porto, Silva finally was able to deliver on his potential of becoming a top striker and was a serious contender for

2020/21 Bundesliga Team of the Season

.  

As we mentioned above, Silva’s move to AC Milan in 2017 didn’t really pan out as the Italian giants tried to move him out after his unimpressive first season at the club. Silva enjoyed relative success at Sevilla and Eintracht Frankfurt on loan until Frankfurt decided to make his deal permanent for a meager 9 million Euros fee after the striker scored 12 goals in his first season at the club. On his second season at Frankfurt and after penning his permanent deal Silva took his game to a whole other level.

He managed to score a whopping 28 goals and register 5 assists for Eintracht Frankfurt with the help of Filip Kostic. The pair tore through Bundesliga defenses and both earned their place as one of the

best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season

. Silva even earned a move to RB Leipzig for 23 million Euros and Eintracht was able to make a tidy profit off of it. Let’s see if he can produce the same numbers and stay consistent at RB Leipzig, something which he has lacked in his career so far.

Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

Speaking of consistency, there are perhaps a handful of players that have been as consistently brilliant as Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller. The 31-year-old has certainly been one of

and has won 10 Bundesliga titles as well as 2 amazing Trebles with the club. So it wasn’t a surprise that he places this highly among our

players ranking for the Bundesliga 2020/2021

. Last season he once again served as Bayern’s playmaker and became the top assist provider in the league.

By now many football fans are aware of the term ‘Raumdeuter’ which pundits attribute to Thomas Muller. In fact, Muller himself coined the term as well as its English equivalent, ‘Space Interpreter’. The term refers to Muller’s ability to invade spaces, especially in the final third, and deliver either an assist or the final shot. It has allowed Muller to become Bundesliga’s all-time assist provider with 144 as well as scoring 129 goals in the competition since his debut in 2008.

Muller has experienced a resurgence under Hansi Flick. While his game was predominantly on the right-hand side of the attack, after the appointment of Flick, Muller has been active all over the pitch and has even improved significantly in defensive efforts, having the 2nd most number of successful pressures in the league last season. he has also had the most shot-creating actions in the league with 29 SCA in total.

Tomas Muller was able to assist 18 goals in Bundesliga last season, 7 of which was to Robert Lewandowski. But he also was able to better his goal-scoring record from last season by scoring 11 goals. he is undoubtedly one of the best German players of all time and the most decorated German player ever. So it’s only natural that we include him as one of the best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season.

Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)

What an absolute machine is Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland. The talent that the 2020 Golden Boy award winner has in such a young age is incredible but what is even more impressive is his consistency and hunger to be one of the world’s best even from when he was 17 years old. After joining halfway through the 2019-20 season, Haaland managed to score 16 goals in 18 matches for

but last season he experienced his first full season at the club and he showed what he truly is capable of.

Haaland, who turned 21 not 10 days ago, had already integrated perfectly into a young attacking Dortmund side with young talents like Jadon Sancho and Giovanni Reyna as well as more experienced players like Marco Reus. This led to Dortmund having one of the most fluid attacking forces in Europe with Haaland as the head of their attack. Keep in mind that although Haaland is a natural finisher, he isn’t particularly a selfish player as he’ll most often put his teammates in scoring positions and assist.

The Norwegian managed to score 41 goals in 41 matches in all competitions last season, which included 27 goals and 6 assists in

. He was the league’s third-best goal scorer behind Robert Lewandowski and Andre Silva and also became Champions League's best goal scorer with 10 goals in 8 matches, despite his team going out in the round of 16. Erling Haaland was undoubtedly one of the

best Bundesliga players of 2020-21 season

and will go on to be one of the best of his generation or even of all time.

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Last but not least is Bayern Munich’s talisman and the man that made Bundesliga history last season, Robert Lewandowski. A consistent goalscorer who is amongst the most lethal strikers of all time, Lewa has managed to somehow have a better season than he did in the 2019-20 season which seemed impossible. The Polish striker has broken the legendary Gerd Muller’s record for most goals scored in a single Bundesliga season and has become a legend himself by doing so.

After playing the biggest role in Bayern achieving an unprecedented Treble, which during this season turned into a Sextuple, many thought that Lewa had the best season of his career in terms of scoring and would never top that. But the 32-year-old proved everyone wrong as he started obliterating Bundesliga defenses once again, this time setting a more personal goal of breaking Gerd Muller’s 40 goals in a single season record.

And he was able to achieve his goal in practically the last kick of the season as he managed to score a whopping 41 goals and registering 7 assists in only 29 matches. Lewa also finally won the European Golden Shoe after being snubbed from winning the Ballon d’Or last season. Robert Lewandowski is perhaps the most on-form player in the world in the last two seasons, even above Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which is why he claims the top spot in our players ranking for the Bundesliga 2020/2021.

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