Unai López

Key strength: Work rate

Box-to-box midfielder

As Rayo Vallecano climb to 11th in La Liga riding a five-game unbeaten streak, Unai López remains the invisible architect of their resurgence. The 30-year-old Spanish midfielder, valued at €2.5 million, has been ever-present this season—logging 1,827 minutes across 32 appearances while wearing the number 17 shirt. His modest return of 1 goal and 4 assists belies his true influence. Operating as a creative playmaker with 56-rated passing intelligence, López is the metronome that dictates tempo in Vallecano's working-class theater, knitting together attacks for higher-profile teammates like Jorge de Frutos and the impressive Matt O'Riley. Five yellow cards tell the story of a competitor who fights for every possession. While Madrid's giants dominate headlines, López embodies the Rayo ethos: intelligent, industrious, and quietly indispensable. In a league obsessed with superstars, he proves that mastery of space and rhythm can be just as decisive as pace and power.