10 Greatest British Footballers of the 2010s [Ranked]

The 2010s were a golden era for British football, with some of the greatest talents of the modern game leaving an indelible mark on the sport. From Premier League dominance to European heroics, these players shaped the decade and left a legacy that will be remembered for years to come.

Here, we rank the 10 greatest British footballers of the 2010s, based on their individual performances, club and international success, as well as their overall impact on the game itself.

10 Andrew Robertson

Queens Park, Dundee United, Hull City, Liverpool

We begin our list with the sole representative from Scotland and the nation’s current captain. In what was a pretty forgettable decade for the Tartan Army – in which they failed to qualify for every major tournament – Robertson’s rise to becoming the greatest left-back of his generation was a rare highlight.

The Glasgow native made his name north of the border with Queen’s Park and Dundee United, before moving to Hull City in the summer of 2014. While impressive, few would have foreseen at the time the level he’d reach over the following six years. In what was arguably the best pound-for-pound transfer of the Jurgen Klopp era, Robertson joined Liverpool in 2017 for just £8 million.

Brilliant in defence and attack, he’d thrive at Anfield, becoming a key member of a side which lifted the UEFA Champions League in 2019. In the final year of the decade, he played some of his best football, registering 12 assists in the 2019-20 Premier League season as Liverpool finished as runaway champions.

9 Ashley Cole

Chelsea, Roma, LA Galaxy, Derby County

Before Robertson established himself as the gold standard for Premier League left-backs, Ashley Cole was entering all-time conversations that even the Flying Scot wasn’t getting a mention in.

The 2000s were already a golden decade for Cole, who was an integral member of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ in the 2003/04 Premier League season. And while some may argue we didn’t see his very best football in the decade that followed, he’d still lift just about every club trophy possible in the 2010s.

A Premier League title in the 2009/10 season was followed up by FA Cup and Champions League glory two years later, where Cole was once again invaluable. While the 2010/11 campaign was altogether less successful, he’d still be named in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year for the fourth time. In doing so, he’d further cement his status as one of the greatest left-backs in football history.

8 Jordan Henderson

Sunderland, Liverpool

All too often the butt of jokes, Jordan Henderson spent much of his Liverpool career maligned by the wider football community. Whether due to his perceived lack of technical ability or his gung-ho approach, the England international rarely got the props he deserved for helping steer the Reds into their greatest era since the 1980s.

Joining the Merseysiders in 2011 from Sunderland, Henderson’s career at Anfield didn’t truly get going until the arrival of Brendan Rodgers in 2012. Under the Northern Irishman, Henderson thrived in the central-midfield role, as the workhorse of the team – allowing an ageing Steven Gerrard to dictate play from deep.

After almost winning the Premier League title in 2014, Henderson led Liverpool to Champions League glory in the latter part of the 2010s, even reaching the FIFA World Cup semi-final in 2018 with England. A natural-born leader on the pitch as well as off it, he more than earned a place among the modern-day greats on this list.

7 Frank Lampard

Chelsea, Manchester City, New York City

Having turned 31 by the time the 2010s rolled around, Frank Lampard’s powers naturally began to wane as the decade progressed. And yet, in his final four years in a Chelsea shirt, the goalscoring midfielder showed exactly why he’ll be regarded as one of the all-time Premier League greats.

The 2009/10 campaign, in which Chelsea finished as runaway champions, saw Lampard score a remarkable 22 goals in 26 EPL matches, as well as six assists. He’d follow this up by scoring double-digit tallies in the next three league campaigns, while also playing a defining role in Chelsea’s 2012 FA Cup and Champions League double.

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In 2014, he left Stamford Bridge for Manchester City, scoring a further six Premier League goals in sky blue – including one against his former employer. Lampard would also feature for the England national team well into the 2010s, ending his international career in 2014 with 106 caps and 29 goals to his name.

6 Steven Gerrard

Liverpool, LA Galaxy

Even on this list, Lampard and Steven Gerrard can barely be separated. The former Liverpool captain will largely be remembered for his era-defining heroics in the 2000s – including ‘that’ goal in the 2006 FA Cup final, and a talismanic display in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final against AC Milan.

Nevertheless, his final few years in red were littered with memorable moments. As captain, Gerrard led Liverpool to the 2012 League Cup and dragged them – alongside an inspired Luis Suarez – into a title challenge in the 2013/14 Premier League season. While the Gerrard slip lives long and painfully in the memories of Liverpool fans, it shouldn’t detract from his brilliance that season – in which the midfielder scored 13 goals.

In the years since he retired from football in 2016, Gerrard’s name has consistently been present in debates over the best Premier League midfielder of all time. Not bad going for a player who, despite his very best efforts, never got his hands on an EPL winner’s medal.

5 Raheem Sterling

Liverpool, Manchester City

For many of the England players featured, it’s a similar story. A stunning club legacy is somewhat weighed down by the absence of standout performances for the Three Lions. However, the same cannot be said of Raheem Sterling, who seemed to raise his game when it mattered most for the England national team.

Beginning the decade as a youth academy graduate at Liverpool, Sterling quickly rose through the ranks at Anfield to form a formidable strike partnership with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in the 2013/14 season. In 2016, Manchester City paid almost £50 million for Sterling, who’d more than repay that fee over the next seven years.

The rapid winger scored 91 goals in 225 Premier League appearances for City, winning two EPL titles in the 2010s. For England, his influence was no less impressive, as his telepathic understanding with captain Harry Kane helped propel the nation to a FIFA World Cup semi-final in 2018.

4 Kyle Walker

Tottenham, Manchester City

Having been an indispensable member of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City side of the 2010s, Kyle Walker has a more than credible claim to be the greatest right-back in Premier League – and English football – history.

A true athlete, blessed with searing pace, strength and aerial prowess, the Sheffield-born defender first burst onto the scene with Tottenham. After playing 200 times for the north London club, Walker earned a big-money move to Manchester City in 2017, as one of Guardiola’s first major signings. It would prove to be masterstroke, as Walker’s tenacity and desire to win permeated throughout the entire squad.

In City’s 100-point Premier League season (2017/18), he was an ever-present in the backline and would remain so for the rest of the decade as City hoovered up silverware. Much like Sterling, Walker was also a crucial member of England’s 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign, in which he played as a right-sided centre-back.

3 Wayne Rooney

Manchester United, Everton, DC United, Derby County

It’s arguable as to when Wayne Rooney truly ‘peaked’ as a footballer, but if we’re going off goals alone, the striker enjoyed his most fruitful spell in the 2010s. Indeed, in both the 2009/10 and 2011/12 Premier League seasons, he scored over 25 goals.

A scorer of every type of goal, Rooney was just as comfortable slotting the ball into an empty net from five yards, as he was chasing back to prevent an attack at the other end of the pitch. In every season between 2005/06 and 2013/14, the forward contributed over 20 goals and assists combined. The trophies would naturally follow, as Rooney lifted the Premier League title five times during his illustrious spell at United.

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Even in his final EPL campaign, which saw the Scouser return to his boyhood Everton, Rooney scored 10 goals in 31 league appearances. Love him or hate him, he’ll undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest players in Premier League history.

2 Harry Kane

Tottenham

And so we come to England’s all-time leading goalscorer, the one and only Harry Kane. Before his move to Bayern Munich, Kane was the Premier League’s most consistent marksman, seldom going a season without hitting 25 goals or more. In fact, even when he dropped below those ridiculously high standards, the man from Walthamstow never scored less than 17 goals (post 2014/15) in a season.

Second only to Alan Shearer in the all-time list of Premier League goalscorers, with 213 from 320 appearances, he has also collected the coveted Golden Boot on two separate occasions (2015/16 & 2016/17) in the 2010s.

Kane’s remarkable knack for scoring in all situations – headers, volleys, penalties, or long-range strikes – has cemented his place as a Premier League great. Whether playing as a target man or dropping deep to create, his consistency made him Tottenham’s heartbeat for nearly a decade.

1 Gareth Bale

Tottenham, Real Madrid

No British player has had a bigger impact on world football over the past decade than Gareth Bale. A Champions League Final hero in 2014 and 2018, the Welsh Wizard was simply born for the big occasions.

From the very outset of the 2010s, he asserted himself as one of the biggest prospects in world football. An unforgettable 2010 hat-trick in the Champions League for Spurs would be followed up by two sensational Premier League campaigns. After winning the 2012/13 PFA Player of the Year award, he’d swap White Hart Lane for the Bernabeu – and wasted no time making a name for himself at Real Madrid.

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In the 2014 Champions League Final, it was Bale’s extra-time header that sealed ‘La Decima’ for Real, while in 2018, a stunning overhead kick – arguably the greatest UCL final goal ever scored – powered the Spanish club past Liverpool.

For Wales, he was no less impressive. As captain, he was inspirational as they qualified for Euro 2016 – the nation’s first major tournament appearance in over 50 years. For some, Bale will go down as the greatest British player of all time alongside Sir Bobby Charlton.