A Venezuelan midfielder at Toulouse has done what Rodri, Bruno Fernandes and Declan Rice could not: register the single highest individual grade in any of Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Cristian Casseres Jr tops the combined best XI compiled by Football365 from Gradient Sports’ player grades through the opening weeks of 2026-27. He scored 91.3 on the data firm’s 0-100 scale, which weights the skills most important to each position. He is the only player above 90 across all five leagues.

Real Madrid and Barcelona contribute four of the eleven. Not a single Premier League player makes it.

The XI, 4-3-3

1. GK: Filip Jorgensen (Strasbourg), on loan from Chelsea, Ligue 1’s top-graded shot-stopper
2. RB: Vanderson (Monaco), 87.5
3. CB: Manuel Akanji (Inter), 86.2, the highest-graded defender in the top five leagues
4. CB: Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid), 86.0, La Liga’s highest-graded defender
5. LB: Raphael Obermair (Paderborn), 81.2, 12 chances created in eight appearances
6. CM: Pedri (Barcelona), 89.7, top passing grade among Spanish midfielders
7. CM: Cristian Casseres Jr (Toulouse), 91.3
8. AM: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), 89.7, La Liga’s best on-ball attacking grade
9. RW: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), 86.3, 18 goal contributions
10. LW: Marco Grüll (Werder Bremen), 88.3
11. CF: Igor Matanović (Freiburg), 88.9, edging Harry Kane’s 88.6

Four from Spain, seven from across the rest of Europe

Dean Huijsen and Jude Bellingham carry Real Madrid’s flag; Pedri and Lamine Yamal do the same for Barcelona. Yamal sits level with Raphinha on 18 goal contributions, the joint-highest figure in La Liga this term.

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The two Spanish giants’ quartet is the single biggest club bloc, but the rest of the XI reads as a tour of the continent’s lesser-trafficked addresses: Paderborn, Freiburg and Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, Strasbourg and Toulouse in Ligue 1, and Monaco and Inter for continental weight. Igor Matanović’s 88.9 nudged him ahead of Kane for the lone centre-forward slot.

Three ex-Premier League names, and none from it

Filip Jorgensen is at Strasbourg on loan from Chelsea. Manuel Akanji moved to Inter after leaving Manchester City. Dean Huijsen played in the Premier League with Bournemouth before his move to Real Madrid. All three graded out ahead of anyone currently playing English top-flight football.

Casseres Jr has started every one of Toulouse’s Ligue 1 matches this season, according to ESPN’s player data, with four assists and 18 key passes. Igor Matanović, meanwhile, has four goals in nine Bundesliga games for a Freiburg side that has leaned on him as its second-highest league scorer.

Gradient Sports’ scores run on performance in position-specific skills rather than raw output, which explains the Premier League shutout as well as the inclusion of a Paderborn left-back among the ten other names. The season’s second third begins after the November international break.

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