In our EFL spotlights, the interesting question was what holds up a level higher. In Ligue 1, La Liga and Serie A there is no level higher: these are Tier 1 leagues, ranked against the best. So we took the top-scoring attacker, midfielder and defender in each of the three leagues so far this season, nine players in all, and looked at what the Scout52 data says about them, including one 19-year-old who is already Elite on four of the six scores.
- All figures are league matches only, 2026/27, as of 09/10/2026. Ligue 1 and Serie A have played five rounds and La Liga seven, so every player here has between 410 and 581 league minutes.
- We picked from outfield players with 400+ league minutes: 70 in Ligue 1, 128 in La Liga and 70 in Serie A.
- Scout52 only gives an archetype from 600 league minutes. Nobody in Ligue 1 or Serie A can have reached that yet, so all nine cards read "Needs 600 mins". We will update the archetypes once they pass the mark.
- Every number here is the same as the player's Player Insights page in the Scout52 app. These are small samples, so read the shape of each profile rather than the decimals.
What Tier 1 means on these cards
Every composite score is a ranking out of 10 against players in the same position group in the same tier. Tier 1 is the top five leagues only: the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. A 9.0 here means better than 90% of Tier 1 players in that position, the highest bar in the model. Our EFL spotlights and guide to composite scores explain the other three tiers.
Two things are different from a lower-league card:
- No T rows. Below Tier 1, each score has a row showing how it would read a tier or two higher. There is nothing above Tier 1, so these cards don't have them.
- Age badges instead. Under each score, the app shows whether the player is in the top 10% or top 25% of Tier 1 players in the same position and age group (U21, 21-23, 24-29, 30-32, 33+). That is the useful comparison at this level: a 22-year-old against other 22-year-olds.
The Scout52 Score combines the match rating with the six composites. The composites that fit the player's role count most. The Score works out that best fit even before 600 minutes, when the archetype label isn't shown yet.
Ligue 1
| Player | Position | Score | Elite scores (9.0+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristian CásseresToulouse, 26 | Midfielder | 9.4 | Defensive, Chance Creation, Passing, Duels |
| Lassine SinayokoParis FC, 26 | Attacker | 9.1 | Defensive |
| Bradley LockoBrest, 24 | Defender | 8.3 | Defensive, Ball Carry |
Cristian Cásseres has the highest Scout52 Score of anyone in this piece. He has four assists in five games and an 8.26 average rating, and his profile covers almost the whole pitch: Elite for Chance Creation (9.8), Passing (9.7), Defensive (9.4) and Duels (9.3), with 3.6 key passes, 5.4 tackles and interceptions and a 68% duel win rate per 90. He is in the top 10% of 24-29 Tier 1 midfielders on five of the six scores. The one gap is Goal Threat, 2.0: no goals yet. On these numbers he is a creator and ball-winner, not a scorer.
Lassine Sinayoko joined Paris FC from Auxerre in July, for a fee reported at around €8m, and scored a hat-trick in a 3-2 win at Marseille in September. He has four goals in five games (0.83 per 90), and Goal Threat and Chance Creation are both Good at 8.8. The standout score is Defensive, 9.8: few Tier 1 attackers do as much work off the ball. That combination is the Pressing Forward recipe, and it is worth watching once he passes 600 minutes. Only nine Ligue 1 attackers have 400+ minutes so far, because forwards get substituted more often, which makes this the smallest group in the piece.
Bradley Locko is a left-back, and his card shows both sides of the role: Defensive 9.5 and Ball Carry 9.5, both Elite and both in the top 10% of 24-29 Tier 1 defenders. He makes 5.0 tackles and interceptions per 90 and wins 76% of his duels. What is missing is the end product: no goals or assists yet, and Chance Creation is Above Average at 6.6. He played through a stop-start, injury-hit 2025/26, so a fit run of games is the main thing in his favour.
La Liga
| Player | Position | Score | Elite scores (9.0+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamine YamalBarcelona, 19 | Attacker | 9.3 | Chance Creation, Goal Threat, Ball Carry, Passing |
| Dávid HanckoAtlético Madrid, 28 | Defender | 8.8 | Ball Carry, Passing |
| Alberto MoleiroVillarreal, 23 | Midfielder | 8.4 | Chance Creation, Goal Threat |
Lamine Yamal has seven goals and four assists in seven La Liga games, with an 8.48 average rating. Against every Tier 1 attacker, regardless of age, he is Elite for Chance Creation (9.9), Goal Threat (9.7), Ball Carry (9.7) and Passing (9.6): 1.08 goals, 0.62 assists and 4.3 key passes per 90. The only score that isn't high is Duels (4.5, Average), which is common for a wide creator. He is 19 minutes short of the 600 needed for an archetype, so it should appear in his next league game.
For context, Barcelona's Raphinha (9.1) and Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé (8.9) are second and third among La Liga attackers. Mbappé is one of the few La Liga players already past 600 minutes, and his archetype is Elite Inside Forward.
Dávid Hancko is the top-scoring defender in La Liga, and the reason is the ball. Passing 9.5 (72 passes per 90) and Ball Carry 9.3 are Elite and in the top 10% of 24-29 Tier 1 defenders, with Chance Creation Good at 8.5 and two assists. His defending is solid rather than standout: Defensive 8.2 (Good), with 1.3 blocks per 90 and 72% of his duels won. This is the profile of a defender who starts attacks.
Alberto Moleiro is second among La Liga midfielders. First is Jude Bellingham, who has his own spotlight. His card is the most extreme of the nine. Chance Creation 9.7 and Goal Threat 9.6 are Elite and in the top 10% of 21-23 Tier 1 midfielders, from two goals, three assists and 3.3 key passes per 90. Against other midfielders, though, Defensive is 0.9 and Duels 0.5, both Poor, and he wins 37% of his duels. Scout52 works out each player's position from his team's line-ups. In Villarreal's 4-4-2 he has played 86% of his minutes in midfield and 14% up front, and 60% of them out wide, so he is ranked against midfielders. Against that group his numbers read like a wide attacking midfielder's rather than a central one's. On 410 minutes this is the smallest sample of the nine.
Serie A
| Player | Position | Score | Elite scores (9.0+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mario HermosoRoma, 31 | Defender | 8.8 | Defensive, Goal Threat, Passing |
| Nico PazComo, 22 | Midfielder | 8.5 | Passing, Ball Carry |
| Mattia ZaccagniLazio, 31 | Attacker | 7.8 | Defensive, Passing |
Mario Hermoso had his Roma contract extended to June 2027 in May, and he has started the season well. He is Elite for Defensive (9.7), Goal Threat (9.5) and Passing (9.2), all three in the top 10% of 30-32 Tier 1 defenders, with 6.2 tackles and interceptions and 65 passes per 90, plus a goal. Duels (5.2) and Ball Carry (5.7) are Above Average rather than high.
Nico Paz chose to stay at Como for another season; Real Madrid have a buy-back option for 2027/28. Against Tier 1 midfielders he is Elite for Passing (9.2) and Ball Carry (9.0), with Chance Creation (8.7) and Goal Threat (8.6) both Good. His passing is in the top 10% of 21-23 Tier 1 midfielders, and the attacking scores are in the top 25%. One goal and one assist in five games is a modest return so far, but the profile is well balanced. Duels (4.8) is the only score below Above Average.
Mattia Zaccagni is the top-scoring Serie A attacker, and at 7.8 he is the lowest-scoring player of the nine. His card reads more like a playmaker's than a forward's: Elite for Defensive (9.8) and Passing (9.1), Good for Chance Creation (8.7), but Goal Threat 2.7 (Average), from one goal and 0.20 per 90. Only ten Serie A attackers have played 400+ league minutes, so this group will change quickly as the season goes on.
All nine side by side
| Player | DEF | CRE | GOAL | CARRY | PASS | DUELS | S52 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SinayokoParis FC · ATT | 9.8 | 8.8 | 8.8 | 7.7 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 9.1 |
| CásseresToulouse · MID | 9.4 | 9.8 | 2.0 | 8.8 | 9.7 | 9.3 | 9.4 |
| LockoBrest · DEF | 9.5 | 6.6 | 2.0 | 9.5 | 5.1 | 8.9 | 8.3 |
| Lamine YamalBarcelona · ATT | 6.7 | 9.9 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.6 | 4.5 | 9.3 |
| MoleiroVillarreal · MID | 0.9 | 9.7 | 9.6 | 5.0 | 8.4 | 0.5 | 8.4 |
| HanckoAtlético · DEF | 8.2 | 8.5 | 3.7 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 6.0 | 8.8 |
| ZaccagniLazio · ATT | 9.8 | 8.7 | 2.7 | 5.7 | 9.1 | 5.8 | 7.8 |
| Nico PazComo · MID | 7.3 | 8.7 | 8.6 | 9.0 | 9.2 | 4.8 | 8.5 |
| HermosoRoma · DEF | 9.7 | 8.0 | 9.5 | 5.7 | 9.2 | 5.2 | 8.8 |
Green = Elite (9.0+), red = Below Average or lower. All scores are against Tier 1 players in the same position group, so compare players in the same position directly and read the others by the shape of their profile.
Reading a Tier 1 card early in the season
Start with the age badge. At Tier 1, "Elite" is measured against the best players in Europe's top five leagues. The age badge then tells you whether a young player is ahead of his peers: Lamine Yamal is top 10% of U21 attackers on three scores, and Moleiro and Nico Paz are top 10% of 21 to 23-year-old midfielders on at least one.
Look for the gap, not just the peaks. Cásseres has no goal threat, Moleiro has no defensive output, and Zaccagni's goal threat is Average. Whether those gaps matter depends on the role you want him for.
Wait for the archetype. Five rounds is not enough to call a role. Once these players pass 600 minutes, the archetype will say whether Sinayoko is a Pressing Forward and what Moleiro's numbers make him.
The Bottom Line
Lamine Yamal, at 19, has the most complete attacking profile of the nine, Elite on four scores against every Tier 1 attacker. Cristian Cásseres has the highest Scout52 Score, as a midfielder who does everything except score. Hermoso and Hancko show two very different ways a Tier 1 defender can rank at the top, and Sinayoko has started life at Paris FC as one of the hardest-working forwards in the top five leagues. Ligue 1 and Serie A are only five rounds in, so we will revisit these cards when the archetypes arrive.
See the Composite Data Behind Every Player
Scout52 scores every player out of 10 on six composites, ranked against players in the same position at the same level, across 100+ leagues. The player data is on Scout Pro, £19.99 a month, with a 7-day free trial and no card needed. Built by academy recruitment professionals.
Start Free Trial