Welcome to the first ESPN Players of the Month!
We’re kicking off our inaugural edition by having several of our experts vote for the standout performer in each of Europe’s top five leagues every month: Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A, and Ligue 1. Once the votes are tallied, we reveal the winners from each league.
– Grading the Premier League ‘Big Six’: Arsenal an A; Liverpool a D- Tottenham have big problems; Haaland lifts Man City again; more- VAR Review: Why VAR didn’t intervene in United-Forest corner dispute
How does it work?
It’s quite simple: Three ESPN journalists from different countries participate for each league. Every month, each expert chooses their top three players from that league. Third place gets three points, the second gets five, and the first gets 10. So, the maximum a player can achieve is 30 points if all three select him as the best player of the month in that league.
In the case of a tie, the criterion to decide the best was the number of first-place votes.
Forward | Bayern Munich and England | 32 years old | 25 points
Bayern Munich have not lost a match in any competition since their 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinals on July 5. That’s an incredible 18 consecutive wins — three preseason friendlies and 15 official matches in the German Supercup, German Cup, Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League — and the main man in this remarkable run has been Harry Kane.
This season, the 32-year-old English striker has 22 goals and three assists for the club in 15 matches, and last month was especially prolific when it came to the Bundesliga. Kane scored twice in the team’s three games, as they finished the month on top of the table with 24 points by beating Eintracht Frankfurt (3-0), rivals Borussia Dortmund (2-1) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (3-0). Oh, that last game was the first Bayern match of the 2025-26 season in which Bayern’s No. 10 neither scored nor assisted. Yes, he is human after all.
The Bundesliga’s top scorer with 12 goals, Kane was chosen by ESPN, by a wide margin, as the best player in Germany for October with 25 out of 30 possible points.
Second place:‐ Christoph Baumgartner: MF, RB Leipzig (10 points)Third place:‐ Alejandro Grimaldo: DF, Bayer Leverkusen (8 points)
Forward | Marseille and England | 24 years old | 20 points
Signed from Manchester United in mid-2024 for €31.6 million after a seasonlong loan to Getafe in the wake of legal troubles, the 24-year-old English forward has been one of the best players for Marseille and was voted the best player of October in Ligue 1 with 20 out of 30 possible points, being placed first by two of the three ESPN journalists who voted.
Greenwood played in all four Ligue 1 matches in the month of October, with two wins (3-0 against Metz and 6-2 over Le Havre), one draw (2-2 with Angers) and one defeat (2-1 to Lens). He scored five of the team’s 12 goals, which have them third with 19 points, behind AS Monaco who are second with 20, and leaders Paris Saint-Germain with 21 points.
Second place:‐ Joaquin Panichelli: FW, Strasbourg (20 points)Third place:‐ Ilan Kebbal: MF, Paris FC (5 points)
Forward | Real Madrid and France | 26 years old | 30 points
Every Mbappé match for Real Madrid has been a show of its own this season, regardless of the competition.
For many, the best striker on the planet, the Frenchman is certainly in any serious world selection that could be made at this moment and in recent years. And in LaLiga, due to the number of matches, it is where he shows off his talent, having not only been chosen as the best player of the month in the league, but also ranked first by all three participating journalists. That’s 30 points out of a possible 30.
It’s no wonder because in the three matches (and three wins) for the club in the league, he was directly involved in four of the six goals scored (66.6%). He scored one and assisted another in the 3-1 over Villarreal, scored the only goal in the 1-0 win against Getafe, and opened the scoring in El Clásico in the 2-1 win over Barcelona.
Performances and results that saw Xabi Alonso’s team finish the month comfortably on top of the Spanish league with 27 points, five ahead of Barcelona, while also becoming the top scorer with 13 goals.
Second place:‐ Jorge de Frutos: FW, Rayo Vallecano (6 points)Third place:‐ (tie) Jan Oblak: GK, Atletico Madrid‐ Thibaut Courtois: GK, Real Madrid‐ Vinicius Junior: FW, Real Madrid (5 points)
Midfielder | Napoli and Cameroon | 29 years old | 20 points
Anguissa is one of the best players of this Napoli squad, one that’s returned to the top of Italy and firmly belongs in Europe’s main competition, the Champions League, about 25 years after the Diego Maradona era.
Having played a part in Napoli winning two of the past three titles, Anguissa has had a strong start to the 2025-26 campaign, with Antonio Conte’s team fighting at the top and showing signs of being a strong title contender again.
The team finished last month sharing the league lead with Roma, both with 21 points, and Anguissa was decisive. He was unable to do much in the 1-0 defeat to Torino, but scored three goals in the other three matches, one in each: in wins over Genoa (2-1), Lecce (1-0), and, most notably, against direct title rivals Internazionale (3-1). These are the reasons why Anguissa was chosen by ESPN as the best player in Serie A in October, with 20 out of a possible 30 points.
Second place:‐ Nico Paz: MF, Como (16 points)Third place:‐ (tie) Hakan Calhanoglou: MF, Inter Milan‐ Jari Vandeputte: MF, Cremonese‐ Mile Svilar: GK, AS Roma (5 points)
Forward | Manchester United and Cameroon | 26 years | 30 points
Born in Avallon, France, Mbeumo is the son of a Cameroonian father and a French mother and chose to play for the Cameroon national team. Professionally, after playing for Troyes for one season, he was signed by Brentford, where he stayed for six years, from 2019 to July 2025, when he was signed by Manchester United for almost €81m.
However, the transfer fee has been worth it, at least in this early part of the season, with the player being the main highlight of manager Ruben Amorim’s side.
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Not for nothing, just like Mbappé in LaLiga, Mbeumo was nominated as the ESPN Player of the Month for October in the Premier League by all three participating journalists, giving him 30 out of 30 possible points. In the team’s three fixtures in the league last month, there were three wins, and the forward was extremely important and decisive in all of them.
His numbers include an assist in the 2-0 win over Sunderland, a goal in their 2-1 win over Liverpool, and two more goals in the 4-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. The team ended the month with 16 points and, at the time, was in sixth place in the league alongside crosstown rivals Manchester City.
Second place:‐ Erling Haaland: FW, Manchester City (15 points)Third place:‐ (tie) Bukayo Saka: FW, Arsenal‐ Junior Kroupi: FW, Bournemouth‐ Senne Lammens: GK, Manchester United (5 points)
