Angel Gomes

Key strength: Vision and passing

Creative playmaker

Nestled in 7th place after a roller-coaster spell of form, Olympique Marseille's European ambitions rest on the slender shoulders of their English orchestrator. Angel Gomes, the 25-year-old attacking midfielder who wears the storied number 7 shirt, has become the quiet heartbeat of De Zerbi's ensemble—25 appearances and 1,268 minutes of probing, intricate football that rarely grabs headlines but keeps the attack ticking. His numbers tell a story of the selfless creator: 4 goals, a solitary assist, yet a 65-rated passing range that unlocks defenses for teammates like Igor Paixão to feast upon. The €10 million valuation reflects belief in his technical gifts—those deft touches in tight spaces, the vision to slip balls through the eye of a needle—but also acknowledges the untapped potential. Two yellow cards hint at a competitive fire beneath the composed exterior. As Marseille hunt down the Champions League places, Gomes stands at a crossroads. He is the metronome, yes, but can he become the maestro? The Mediterranean sun that lured him from Manchester United's academy casts long shadows—time for this Portuguese-descended playmaker to step from connector to conductor, or watch another season of promise drift away on the Mistral wind.